


Primordial

by Raptorclaw



Series: The Dragon Prince: Primordial Universe [1]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Established Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Even I don't know how this will end, F/M, Fluff, Human Mages, Original Character(s), Story will be allowed to evolve over time, Wyrm Aaravos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:01:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 36
Words: 85,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25077295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raptorclaw/pseuds/Raptorclaw
Summary: Viren's army was defeated, but everything is far from over. Human-elven relations are still tense at best, not helped by how much certain parties have lost during the war. So when dark magic is detected within the borders of Xadia, it will take a lot of convincing to get everyone onto the same side before the shadow envelops them all.Featuring: copius amounts of Rayllum, the spread of human mages, the steadily improving relations between humans and elves, and the slow ostracization and extinction of dark magic, eventually culminating in a war against one of the most powerful elves ever to walk the earth.
Relationships: Aaravos & Viren (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Ezran & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Claudia & Viren (The Dragon Prince)
Series: The Dragon Prince: Primordial Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1918918
Comments: 183
Kudos: 304





	1. Where Things Left Off

“Don’t you ever do that again.”  
  
Callum was sitting on the steps at the top of the Storm Spire, his wings still wrapped around his partner, the Moonshadow Elf Rayla. He wasn’t about to let go of her anytime soon either, not after she’d just tackled Viren over the edge of the pinnacle.  
  
The realization must’ve finally hit her because she started tearing up herself. “I’m sorry, there was no time, he was about to kill Zym, and…” she broke down in his arms and started sobbing.  
  
Callum finally let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” he said soothingly. “He’s gone now. You did it. You protected Zym.”  
  
Rayla sniffled and dried her eyes. “Yeah. And thanks for savin’ me at the last second.”  
  
He smirked. “You and your duty. I thought you were over trying to sacrifice yourself.”  
  
“Speaking of which, how did you know this spell would work?” she asked, poking the feathers that surrounded her.  
  
He looked a bit guilty. “I didn’t really.”  
  
She gave him an exasperated look through her still-teared-up eyes and implanted her fist in his stomach. Callum grunted in pain, but didn’t drop his wings. Rayla flung her arms around his neck and clung there like they were still flying.  
  
“You’re in no position to lecture me about self-sacrifice,” she told him. Fresh tears fell on the back of his shirt.  
  
“I’m sorry.” It was now his turn to apologize. “I thought that...I hoped…”  
  
“Shhh,” she whispered in his ear. “Just hold me.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
They were still wrapped in each others’ arms when everyone else started to arrive at the top of the stairs.

* * *

Callum stretched his sore arms as his feathers faded back into his skin. “You’ve been learning almost faster than I can teach, Prince Callum,” Ibis was saying. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a student who was this skilled at magic.”  
  
“Well, I did connect to the sky primal on my own,” Callum replied brightly.  
  
“A feat that I still do not fully understand,” Ibis admitted. “Nevertheless, you still have a good deal to learn before you can call yourself a full-fledged sky mage, prodigy or not.”  
  
Two months had passed since the Battle of the Storm Spire. Many things had changed between Xadia and the human kingdoms, mostly between the groups that had participated in the battle. After Viren’s forces had been defeated and the dragon queen woke up, Ezran had returned to Katolis and Janai to Lux Aurea within the next week to deal with all the problems that had been left behind by the recent events. The Sunfire Elves had to find a way to purify the sunforge and Ezran had to explain to the other human kingdoms what had happened in Xadia.  
  
To that end, Callum had elected to stay behind at the Storm Spire for a little while, both as an honorary dragonguard and to learn more sky magic from Ibis before he returned to Katolis to assist his brother in rebuilding. Despite their many responsibilities, the brothers still found enough time to write weekly letters to each other. Ezran was making a lot of progress with the peace treaty between Katolis, Duren, and Lux Aurea, a treaty that he hoped he could get the other human and elven nations to join over time as the scars left by the war started to heal. In the meantime, Ezran’s official coronation was coming up, and it was this that Callum had been waiting for to return to Katolis. It had been delayed due to the recent conflicts, but Callum had promised his brother that he would return in time to bear witness to the event.  
  
As Callum walked into the main hall of the Dragon Queen’s lair, Rayla naturally met him at the entrance. “Learn any new spells today, Callum?”  
  
“He still hasn’t taught me storm sneeze, if that’s what you’re wondering,” he joked. Rayla snorted and tapped her foot on the ground. She looked really beautiful in her sky-blue dragonguard armor. “No new spells today,” he admitted. “but I have been getting better at using the ones Ibis has already taught me.”  
  
“You sure you’re up to flying the both of us all the way back to Katolis?” Rayla asked.  
  
“Sure! I’ll be fine. I’ve been practicing flying every day for two months.”  
  
“I can tell,” Rayla told him, eyeing his now-chiseled and muscular upper body. “But still, it’s a long way from here to Katolis.”  
  
Callum wrapped his arm around her. “Well, we’re not flying all the way to Katolis from here, remember? We’re taking Pyrrah to Lux Aurea and flying from there to Katolis.”  
  
“I know, I know,” she told him. “I just don’t want you wearing yourself out. Don’t want Ez to see you exhausted right before his coronation.”  
  
“Don’t worry. I can fly long distances now.” He pressed his lips against her forehead and looked her in the eyes. “I love you.”  
  
“I love you too, Callum,” Rayla replied. “That’s why I’m going with you, remember?”  
  
“Yeah. Now let’s go find Zym. Pretty sure he’s getting-oof!” Callum’s last remark was cut off by the dragonet in question bounding up to him and pouncing right into his chest, knocking him down. Zym had grown a sizeable amount in the last two months, and would likely be double the size he was when he’d first hatched by the time he was six months old. And he never ran out of energy. There had been a storm outside the spire a couple weeks ago, and Zym had shot outside faster than Callum’s Fulminis spell to play in the wind and rain and lightning. It took Zubeia calling for him to come back to finally get his attention and bring him back inside. And then he’d promptly soaked everyone in the hall when he shook the rainwater off of himself.  
  
Zym sat on Callum’s chest, delivered a pair of zappy kisses, and started prancing in circles around the human mage when he pushed the dragonet off of himself to get back to his feet. Rayla offered him a hand that he gladly accepted. Both of them were finding it hard to suppress their laughter. Zym yipped happily at the pair and Callum said, “Yeah, I missed you too, little buddy.” He bent down to pick up the dragonling, but Zym shot between his legs and jumped onto his shoulder instead. Rayla laughed and the pair ventured further inside.  
  
“Did you see where Ibis went?” Callum asked.  
  
“The queen’s chamber,” Rayla replied. “He told me to make sure you took the rest of today to rest. After all, tomorrow we’re in for a long flight.”  
  
“You two don’t have to worry about me so much,” Callum told her. “We’re not even going the entire way on my wings, and I rest enough already.”  
  
“Riding on dragonback can be just as tiring over a good distance,” Rayla countered. “And don’t forget it’s going to be more tiring to use sky magic away from the Storm Spire.”  
  
“Because it’s the sky nexus, yes, I know.” Callum shifted Zym into a more comfortable position on his shoulder.  
  
“Besides,” Rayla continued, leaning toward him and putting her hands on her hips, “I’m not sure how studying for hours in the library counts as resting.”  
  
Callum gave her a sappy grin and kissed her on the cheek. Her stance immediately relaxed. “In that case,” he said, “why don’t you come up with something interesting and relaxing for us to do until dinner?”  
  
“Get some lunch into ya before that, okay, mage?”  
  
He kissed her again. “Sure thing.”

* * *

Claudia wasn’t doing so well.  
  
Making whatever food they could find into tasty things with dark magic was one thing. It was another to be living in a cave for two months with a large, glowing cocoon on one wall. She didn’t understand why her father was so enamored with the thing, but he’d refused to leave the cave while it was still there. She could hardly believe she had once thought the creature within it to be cute. But then it had slowly grown larger and creepier as the person she’d thought of as her dad slowly gave himself more and more to dark magic. Finally, a couple days before she’d managed to finally bring her father back, it had spun itself into a cocoon and began to change.  
  
Several things had been hard for the father and daughter to swallow. First was that Viren had dropped his staff when the elf had tackled him off of the edge of the pinnacle. Viren felt that loss deeply, but the thing Claudia felt the most was the odd behavior of Callum during the battle. She had clearly seen him using a lightning spell up on the stairs of the spire, but she had thought he had simply found another primal stone and had it hidden on him somewhere. Then Viren had told her of how he’d dived off the pinnacle after them, turned his arms into wings, and carried the elf that had tackled her father off the edge to safety.  
  
The realization had hit Claudia hard. Saying that her emotions had been mixed was such a gross understatement that even two months with hardly anything other than her own mind to keep her company wasn’t enough to untangle the knotted mess that was her feelings. On the one hand, she felt she was entirely justified in hating that elf for killing her dad, even if she had been able to bring him back. She also definitely wanted to hurt Callum for saving the elf instead of him.  
  
But on the other hand, she knew that the elf was justified in attacking him to protect the baby dragon, even if she didn’t want to admit it. As for Callum...her mind flashed back to a moment almost three months ago, to that sad, hurt, betrayed look he had given her as he flew away on a moon phoenix after she and her brother had tried and failed to bring him and his brother back to Katolis by force. And then to another moment almost a week later, to that look of contempt and fury on his face as he prepared to use dark magic for the first time after having refused her instruction in the subject so strongly. All for her. An elf, and not only that, one of the assassins sent to kill his father.  
  
Everyone but her father had betrayed her in the end. And even he was still so enamored by that creepy cocoon that he almost didn’t seem to care about her anymore…  
  
“Claudia!” Viren hissed, turning her attention to the cocoon. The outer layers had begun to tear as something started to work its way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfiction, and I am mostly writing this to show how I would set up the next few seasons. I don't have very much planned out other than my short-term predictions, so this story will certainly evolve over time, and I hope that it surprises me and all of you with where it ends up.


	2. Return to Katolis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayla and Callum are returning to Katolis for Ezran's coronation. Along the way, they make stops at Lux Aurea and the Moon Nexus and check in with the people they know there. Aaravos' new vessel emerges from its cocoon...

A nearby whimper woke Rayla. Callum turned over on the bed next to her, unconsciously curling up in defense of whatever nightmare he faced this time. She reached out her hand to him, intending to soothe him by her touch, but he only started to thrash even more. Rayla grit her teeth and threw her arms around his shoulders, pressing her body up against his back and hugging him tightly. Callum’s breathing steadily slowed, and when she loosened her grip, he rolled back over to face her and opened his gorgeous emerald-green eyes.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “My nightmares usually don’t wake you up too.”

“You’re there for me when I have bad dreams,” she crooned back. “So I’ll be there for you when you do.”

He sighed deeply. “It’s just, it’s supposed to be over. Claudia might still be out there, but as far as we know the war is over everywhere else. The human and elven armies went home, Viren’s staff has been confiscated, Viren himself has…”

“He’s gone, Callum,” Rayla assured him. “No one could survive a fall from that height.”

“We never found a body.”

That short, blunt sentence conveyed both of their worst fears in five words. No one had seen Viren hit the ground. No one had found his body, and no one had seen so much as a hair of him since the Battle of the Storm Spire, or of his daughter Claudia. Sunfire Elf mages had scoured the battlefield several times, casting spells of revelation and purification, and had found nothing. And then there was that little sack that he had taunted her with before he’d chased Zym up the pinnacle…

“Rayla?” Callum’s voice brought her back to reality. “What were you thinking about? You had a weird look on your face.”

“It’s nothing,” she said quietly. “It’s just...when the dark mage trapped me in ice, and Zym ran up the pinnacle, he said...he would return for me and...add me to some sort of collection…”

“Collection?” Callum sat up in bed.

“Yeah, he had this little sack that he waved in front o’ me and said it would be a pleasure to add another Moonshadow Elf to it.” She shivered at the memory, and not because of the ice she had been trapped in. She also sat up in bed. “But he’s gone now. So no point in worrying about him adding me to it.”

“Even if he wasn’t,” Callum told her, “there’s no way I’d let him.” He leaned over and kissed her. They clung to each other for a few seconds, and when their lips were finally parted, Rayla noticed that the sky was starting to get lighter.

“Still,” she remarked, “I can’t help but wonder what was in that sack.”

“Something to remember if we ever find his remains,” Callum told her. “Well, since we’re both awake and it’s almost dawn anyway, we should get started. We have a long way to go today.” He held out his hand for her. “You with me?”

She smiled and took his hand. “Always.”

* * *

“I assume that you are about to leave for Katolis now?” Zubeia asked.

“That’s right, your majesty,” Rayla answered.

“Very well,” the Dragon Queen declared. “Fly swift and true, and when you arrive, please give my regards to King Ezran. I cannot thank any of you enough for bringing my baby back to me and for ridding the world of the dark mage responsible for the death of my husband.” Zym barked in agreement.

“Will you be alright on your own while we’re gone?” Callum inquired.

Zubeia chuckled. “Ibis is good company,” she assured him, “and some new candidates for the Dragonguard will be arriving by tomorrow from the Earth, Sun, Moon, and Sky Elves. We will have to go through them and select the new members, so that will keep us quite busy for a while. Hopefully at least a few of the new faces will be willing to keep little Azymondias company as well. So there’s no need for you to worry about me.”

Callum bowed at this response. “In that case, we should take our leave.” Zym bounded forward and leapt onto Callum’s chest and wrapped his wings around the human mage. Callum laughed and told the little dragon, “I know. I’m going to miss you too. And I’m sure Ez misses you as well. But we’ll be back, don’t worry.”

Rayla walked over and gave the dragon a little boop on the nose. “We’ll see each other again sooner than you know it.” Zym yipped and jumped into Rayla’s arms, giving her the same goodbye hug he’d given Callum. Rayla laughed and returned the dragonling to his nest next to his mother. She bowed to Zubeia. “Goodbye, your majesty.”

“Farewell, Rayla. I hope to see you become a full-fledged Dragonguard should you return to my service.”

Rayla smiled up at the Dragon Queen, took Callum’s hand, and left the queen’s chamber. Once they were outside the main hall, they found Pyrrah waiting for them on the precipice. Pyrrah hummed in her throat and lowered her head so the couple could climb on. Rayla vaulted onto her back with ease and then lowered her hand for Callum to grab onto. Callum took her hand with a grateful smile and somewhat awkwardly clambered onto Pyrrah’s back. They took one last look at the Storm Spire, and then the fire dragon was airborne, headed for Lux Aurea.

* * *

The city of Lux Aurea was clearly still recovering from Viren’s attack. Little of the actual structures in the stronghold had been touched, but the sunforge itself at the heart of the city had been corrupted by dark magic to the point that it had turned black after Viren had corrupted it. Now, the light of the sunforge was still dark, but instead of being the color a sinister black hole, it at least gave off some light of an orange-red hue. It would still be a long time before the forge would be back to its former glory, even with all the mages and dragons in the city dedicating themselves to its purification.

Janai was waiting for them as Pyrrah landed. “Well met, dragonguard Rayla, Prince Callum,” she greeted them. “And to you as well, Pyrrah. My thanks for bringing them this far.” Pyrrah hummed softly in her throat and lowered her neck so the pair could climb down.

“Thanks for the ride,” Rayla told her graciously. Pyrrah hummed again and nudged the Moonshadow Elf with her snout in farewell. Her eyes fell on Callum as she turned away. When he waved, the dragon gave him a nod of respect and then flew away.

“Come, a meal and then rest,” Janai said, gesturing inside. “You have a long flight ahead of you the rest of the way to Katolis.” She walked ahead through the archway and Callum and Rayla followed. The guards bowed as they passed. “Are you still sure that you don’t want Pyrrah or one of our inferno tigers to carry you the rest of the way to Katolis?”

“Yeah, not a good idea,” Rayla answered. “The war just ended and suddenly a dragon shows up on the human side of the breach? Not a good idea.”

“Besides,” Callum continued, “I’m much better at flying now. I can get both of us to Katolis no problem.”

“As you wish,” was Janai’s reply. “General Amaya will meet you at Katolis castle either way.”

“Have you received any word from her?” Callum inquired.

“Only that she is eager to see her nephew again and hopes you don’t take too long getting there.” Janai looked back at him with a smile. “I get the feeling she would come here to pick you up herself if it wouldn’t create more work for me.” Her expression turned melancholy as she looked up at the state of the sunforge.

“It looks a lot better than when I flew over Lux Aurea with Ibis a couple weeks ago,” Callum said.

Janai conceded, “We have made progress, yes, but the taint of dark magic is hard to remove, even from a device normally used for the sake of purification. If we had the staff, it would be easier, but…”

“Claudia still has it somewhere,” Rayla finished. She clenched her fist.

“Indeed,” Janai confirmed.

“I’m sorry,” Callum apologized. “I wish there was more we could do to help.”

“You’ve already done more than enough in bringing peace between Xadia and Katolis,” Janai told him. “Besides, while it is certainly quite a feat to be a human connected to a primal arcanum, yours is of the sky. I do not believe that your magic will be very effective in helping us to purify the sunforge.”

“You never know,” Callum answered, flexing a hand in front of himself. Small jolts of electricity arced between his fingers. “And even so, if I can connect to the sun arcanum as well…”

“We do not even know how long it would take, let alone how powerful your resulting connection would be.” Janai’s response was a bit sad. “Better to focus on what we can do now.” The trio arrived in the main hall and motioned to one of the Sunfire Elves standing off to the side. When he came forward, Janai introduced him as Corin, and told them that he would show them their room for the night and signal them when dinner was prepared.

As Corin led them through the halls of Lux Aurea, Callum decided to strike up a conversation. “Corin, right? How’d you get assigned to us?”

The elf looked a bit apprehensive about talking to him, but he said, “My master, the mage Aurora is busy with trying to purify the sunforge, which the dark mage ruined. I am not yet far enough into my training, so because I am unable to assist, she referred me to Janai to give me something to do for a while other than simple studying.”

“So you’re a mage too!” Callum exclaimed. “It hasn’t even been that long since I connected to the sky arcanum myself, but right now it feels like forever. What’s it like being connected to the sun?”

Corin was a bit surprised at this straightforward speech and considered it for a couple seconds. “Very well, I suppose I can tell you what I do know,” he relented. “I hope that you can tell me how you connected to the sky in return.” Rayla winced internally. That was a bit of a sensitive topic.

Callum didn’t let it faze him. “Sure! Do you want me to go first, or do you want to go first?”

Callum and Corin had an interesting time discussing magic and arcanums while they made their way to their rooms. Callum somehow managed to avoid telling Corin that he’d used dark magic, instead telling him he’d “had an encounter” with it and ended up in a coma as a result. They were able to reach their rooms with no issues, at which point the two unfortunately had to cut their fascinating conversation about arcanums short as Corin showed them where everything was and helped them settle down for their night's stay.

Dinner was a pleasant enough affair. Rayla wasn't especially used to the Sunfire Elves' cooking, as they were quite fond of spicy things, but she and Callum managed to get through the evening without burning their tongues off. That evening, they met up in Callum's room to talk and make sure they were each okay. The two of them were sitting next to each other on the bed when Rayla started the conversation.

"You doing okay after that flight?" Rayla asked.

"Doing fine since you were there to make sure I stayed on Pyrrah's back," Callum answered. "Though I could've used mage wings even if I fell."

"You're not too sore?"

"I'm a little sore," he admitted. "I'm not that used to riding anything for long periods of time. I prefer flying on my own wings. What about you?"

"I'm no more sore than you."

"Makes sense."

Rayla moved a little closer to Callum. "So, did Corin give you any insights into the sun arcanum?"

"He told me a lot of the sun arcanum is about heat and light, that heat is more about fire and metalworking, and light is more about purification and healing. I didn't fully undertand it all, but it's a start at the very least."

"If you say so, mage." The both of them were silent for a little while before Rayla spoke again. "Callum, I...I don't want to cause you any trouble while we're in Katolis."

"I'm not ashamed of what we have," Callum asserted.

"I know, I'm not either, but...don't you think we should at least restrain ourselves while we're there?"

"You make a good point. We don't want to cause more problems for Ez. But if anyone still has a problem with us, I don't give a damn."

Rayla was silent. Callum let out a breath he'd been holding in and leaned his head on her shoulder. "I don't want us to be apart," he confessed.

"We can sleep in the same bed again tonight," she promised. "In case either of us have nightmares again."

He smirked. "Remember the first time, back at the Storm Spire, when you asked if we could do that?"

Rayla groaned. "I thought I told you we're never talking about that misunderstanding again."

Callum's mouth twitched. "Like that first kiss back in the oasis-"

"Stop! That was even worse!"

Now he had the nerve to laugh. "You do realize that I reacted so awkwardly because you fried my brain, right?"

" _Now_ I do, dummy. Just get over here," she told him, leaning back onto the bed.

"But I already am over here-" he tried to say, but then Rayla tugged him down onto the bed with her.

"Come on, let's just enjoy tonight."

* * *

After saying goodbye to Janai and Lux Aurea the following morning, Callum and Rayla had taken off for Katolis with no problems. The next stop on their journey would be the Moon Nexus, which would bring them close enough to Katolis to make the last leg of the journey. It hadn't been long since they left the Sunfire Elves' stronghold when they were greeted by wingbeats and a familiar voice.

"I did _not_ expect to see you up here," said a wide-eyed and shocked-sounding Nyx.

Rayla made a noise of disgust from her position on Callum's back. "You again. What do you want now?"

"Nothing! I swear!" she stammered, holding her hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I was just wondering who was flying up here at this time, and now I'm wondering how a human suddenly grew wings and is flying like a proper Skywing Elf."

"I connected to the sky arcanum before we met, right before we'd crossed into Xadia with Zym," Callum explained. "Long story, but I used to use a primal stone, but then I had to break it to hatch Zym, so I tried to connect to the arcanum directly and it somehow worked out."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" she demanded.

"Because you didn't ask and you didn't need to know," Rayla retorted. "Can you please leave? We have a lot of ground to cover, and we really don't need you slowing us down."

"Okay, okay!" Nyx said hastily. "I'll uh, leave you lovebirds to it then! Bye!" Nyx swooped away back in the direction they'd come before Rayla could make another angry retort.

* * *

The flying couple made it to the Moon Nexus just before nightfall. Lujanne was waiting for them when they landed.

"Hello again, Callum, Rayla," she greeted them.

"Hi, Lujanne," Rayla returned the greeting.

"I see you managed to forge your own connection, Callum," Lujanne said brightly as his feathers faded back into his arms and Rayla handed him back his jacket. "I hope my advice was helpful."

"What?" he asked, baffled. "You told me humans can't do magic and that I should give up on trying to."

"And you clearly took it to heart with how you defied it," the moon mage said with a smile. "Now come. I believe my other guest at the moment is a friend of yours."

"What other guest?" Callum asked. The answer to his question bounded out of the nearby buildings on a three-legged wolf.

"Callum! Rayla!" Ellis called joyfully as Ava bounded around them, barking.

"Ellis!" Rayla replied, echoing her enthusiasm. "I can't say we expected to see you here."

"Did you get the baby dragon to Xadia?" she asked excitedly.

"Yup!" Callum confirmed. " _And_ I can do magic again!"

"REALLY?"

"Yup!" Rayla told her. She turned to her boyfriend. "Show her how we got here."

Callum grinned, tossed his jacket to Rayla, and spread out his rune-painted arms. " _Manus, Pluma, Volantus!_ " he chanted, the runes lighting up in sequence down his arms. Immediately, brown feathers sprouted and merged into a glorious pair of wings. Rayla could've sworn Ellis' eyes were about to pop out of her head.

"That is _so cool!_ Do you think I could do that?" she asked.

"Maybe," Callum replied, allowing his wings to fade back into arms and taking his jacket back from Rayla. "I don't know. Depends on whether you can connect to the sky arcanum like I did. Maybe you'll feel more connection to the moon, or the earth."

"Now you _really_ make me want to learn magic," Ellis told him.

"Well, let's head inside and we can discuss that a little," Lujanne interrupted, gesturing in the direction of the living quarters.

* * *

Claudia gripped her father's hand as the cocoon continued to tear, the thing inside it pushing to get out. Whatever it was, it was both larger and stronger than the snakelike grub that had spun itself into the swollen cocoon. The first thing to emerge was a four-clawed foot. It scrabbled at the outer layers for a little and then finally tore itself free the rest of the way. Claudia and Viren both inadvertently gasped at the thing that crawled out of the protective coating.

It was like a cross between a dragon and the serpentine larva it had been before. It still had the same serpentine form and twelve little legs it had before, but now it was covered in dark purple scales patterned with silver and sky blue markings almost identical to those the creature had borne prior to its metamorphosis. Each of its legs now had four claw-tipped toes, with those on its foremost legs looking especially long and sharp. Its head was notably draconic, bearing the triangular head and crownlike horns of a dragon, but its eyes were the same bright silver as they had been before, and when it opened its jaws, the creature revealed a maw of small but cruel-looking needle-like fangs.

"Ah, this is so much better," the creature said in a startlingly deep and smooth voice. "Thank you very much. So what has happened while I was...indisposed?"

"We've waited for you in this cave for two months," Viren told it begrudgingly. "After the fall, Claudia brought me back, and since then, we've waited here for you to finish changing."

"Did she now?" the creature asked, turning its creepy eyes on Claudia from where it coiled on the ground. It noted how half of her hair was now white. Claudia shivered at its unsettling gaze. The creature spoke again. "Nice to meet you, Claudia. My name is Aaravos."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and for the support I received on the first chapter. I didn't expect to get so many ideas all at once, so I came out with this chapter earlier than I expected. Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas for elements that I can include later on. And yes, I made Aaravos a wyrm. Seemed fitting considering his snake/caterpillar form prior to metamorphosis and the fact that he'd just absorbed a bunch of Zym's power.


	3. Enough of the Politics Already!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezran is having some trouble dealing with his council in the days before his coronation. Hopefully Callum and Rayla's arrival can help him reassert control. Various third parties look on, some with hate, others not so much.

Ezran was already tired of being king.

He could deal with the guards following him at every step. He didn't particularly mind everyone who saw him bowing when he passed. The amount of decisions he had to make and paperwork he had to deal with was certainly much larger than he had ever seen his dad working through, but he was able to issue instructions and delegate most of it to his council. After all, the work he had to deal with in the aftermath of the Battle of the Storm Spire was impossible for any one person to accomplish. The thing that made him really hate being king was when people were treating him like he wasn't. Or, actually they did treat him like he was king, but they treated him like he shouldn't be king.

"It's too late to change my mind on the matter," he was saying with as much authority as he could muster. "They've been travelling for the last two days, and they're going to be arriving today before dinner."

"Your majesty!" Lord Rogan interrupted. "To allow an elf into the castle, especially one of the elves who killed King Harrow-!"

"Enough!" Ezran exclaimed, standing up from his throne. "I've told you a dozen times already that Rayla would rather cut her own hand off than hurt me! I happen to know that for a fact because she was actually put in that position before the dragon prince released her from it. I will say it again: we are at peace with Xadia, and the elves and dragons are no longer our enemies. If I want to welcome my friends into my kingdom, then they will be welcomed, and you will not complain!"

Lord Rogan looked like he wanted to argue the matter further, but he caught General Amaya's iron gaze and begrudgingly fell silent.

Before his father's death, the High Council of Katolis had consisted of his father's high mage Lord Viren, Lady Opeli, Lord Saleer, and two other lords whose names were Lord Forsyth and Lord Rogan. Viren of course had vanished after his fall from the Storm Spire and even if he was still alive, he would still be charged with high treason. Lord Saleer had been found guilty of the same after siding with Viren and now resided in the castle dungeons. That left Opeli, who was a hard traditionalist but still loyal, and Forsyth and Rogan, who made a point of questioning everything Ezran did. Lord Forsyth was clearly the more cunning of the two, willing to bide his time and wait for Ezran to make a mistake that he could capitalize on, but Lord Rogan was much more bothersome, clearly voicing his displeasure whenever Ezran so much as mentioned peace with Xadia, a notion that he openly called a "childish fantasy."

Ezran returned to the throne with his new thoughts. Callum had already effectively replaced Viren as High Mage despite how he was still in Xadia most of the time learning more about the sky arcanum, and Opeli was loyal though still apprehensive about the alliance, but Saleer's place was vacant and the other two were so singlemindedly against the alliance that they were becoming borderline disloyal.

Ezran knew he was going to have to replace both of them and appoint someone new to fill Saleer's spot. His brother had agreed with him on this when Callum had returned to Katolis for his birthday a month ago and they'd discussed the council members' growing dissent. The problem was neither of them knew who to replace them with.

Ezran's thoughts were interrupted by a guard entering the hall. "Captain Corvus requests an audience."

"Granted! Send him in!" the young king said jovially.

"That checks out," said another guard by the door. Ezran sighed and shook his head, half out of amusement, half out of reluctant resignation. He never was able to convince that guard to stop saying that. 

Corvus entered the hall, his usual brown tracker's jacket having been temporarily replaced by a smart-looking blue uniform with silver trim and bearing his broken link badge and a captain's insignia, signifying him as the captain of the Order of the Broken Chains.

"My king," Corvus said, his voice bearing nothing but respect as he bowed to Ezran.

"Corvus!" Ezran replied. "I assume you are here to give me a progress update on the Order?"

"Indeed, King Ezran," Corvus answered. "As you requested, the Order's new headquarters in the city has been set up and we have begun to circulate among the citizenry who we are, what we do, and how new members may sign up. As we speak, at least half a dozen new recruits for the lawkeeping department and intelligence department are getting the ins and outs of how we do things."

"How long before we're able to set up headquarters in the surrounding towns and villages?"

"Judging by the current rate at which we are recruiting, we will be able to send out officials to each major city in Katolis by summer's end. The secretary you assigned to me gives them around another month after that to establish headquarters and their position as the protectors of the citizens."

Ezran was delighted by the good news. "That's great! Once the Order is established, we can move ahead with using it to set up an exchange program with Xadia, and once Callum returns from learning sky magic, he can get started on teaching some of the members primal magic."

"As you say, King Ezran. Though if I may be so bold, not many of the members will be willing to interact with elves. I also do not believe that many will be interested in magic, let alone have an aptitude for the practice."

"We don't need many at first," Ezran asserted. "For now, we only have to prove that peace is possible between Xadia and the human kingdoms. Once we've done that, then we can think about expanding the Order's scope."

"Are Crownguards also allowed to join this 'Order of the Broken Chains'?" Soren asked from his position on the opposite side of the throne as Amaya and Gren.

Corvus looked at Ezran for an answer. "Sure!" the boy king replied easily. "In fact, why don't we have the Crownguard become a branch of the Order? That way, we can create a much easier link between the different levels of the Order and the throne."

"Niiiice," Soren agreed, nodding his head at the idea. "How do we make that official?"

"Forgive me for interrupting, King Ezran," Lord Forsyth cut in, "but was creating this new Order really necessary? The local soldiers are more than enough to protect the citizens from bandits and miscreants and you can hardly believe that simply including elves of all things will make our tenuous peace last."

"Lord Forsyth, I hope I need not remind you that I'm not so naive as to believe that a single group can erase a thousand years of war," Ezran told the skeptical lord. "The Order of the Broken Chains' purpose is to make it easier for us to move on by both connecting us together and making sure we learn from what happened in the past."

Ezran once again stood up from his throne and addressed the entire hall. "In a letter he gave to my brother before he died, my father King Harrow wished for my brother and I to not let the past define us, to reject the chains of history. The purpose of the Order of the Broken Chains is to do just that, only for all of humanity. I know that it won't solve every problem, but as long as it's a step in the right direction, it's a step worth taking." Having concluded his speech, Ezran sat back down on the throne with a slight sigh of relief.

Corvus spoke up again. "If I may, you may have just come up with a new motto for the Order."

"Did I?"

"'Reject the chains of history,'" the tracker repeated with a smile.

General Amaya was also smiling. She began signing and Gren translated, "I like it. I highly approve. After everything Harrow went through, I can definitely see him telling you kids something like that."

Ezran sent her a grin and turned back to Corvus. "If there is nothing else, you may return to whatever you have to do next."

"Thank you, King Ezran." Corvus bowed and left the hall. Ezran leaned back on the throne and petted Bait, who was sitting on one of the arms.

There were times being king wasn't so bad.

* * *

It was late afternoon when Callum and Rayla arrived at the castle. Lujanne had seen them off without any problems when they left the Moon Nexus, though Ellis had made them promise to stop by on their way back. No unscrupulous Skywing Elves interrupted them this time as they continued to fly west.

Finally, the castle came into view. Once they were within sight of the gate, Callum swooped down and landed them on the bridge leading up to the gate a little bit faster than he needed to, making Rayla squeal and the guards stagger back in shock. They had been told Prince Callum had developed magical abilities, and some of them had even witnessed them when Callum had visited the castle for his birthday last month, but they were clearly still not used to the mage wings.

Callum set Rayla down carefully as he allowed his wings to fade back into arms. "Sorry, was that too fast?"

In response, Rayla punched him in one of his rune-traced arms. "Don't _do_ that to me! You'll give me a fear of heights too!" Callum laughed, took her hand, and led her to the castle gate. 

"P-Prince Callum," the guard stammered. "The king's been expecting you." He looked at Rayla, who was desperately putting on her best friendly face. "And um..."

"She's with me," Callum explained, his tone leaving no room for discussion. He felt Rayla squeeze his hand.

"V-very well." The guard was clearly very nervous about letting him bring an elf into the castle, but he let them pass. The other guard watched them as they walked inside, still holding hands.

Rayla had been to Katolis castle once before, during that fateful mission to end King Harrow's life in vengeance for the dragon king Avizandum. Now, she was here as a guest of his sons. The couple entered the castle courtyard, a place both of them remembered well. It was the place that Rayla, Callum, and Ezran had made the decision to carry Zym's egg to Xadia. 

Marcos was waiting for them there as he watched a squad of drilling soldiers. He bowed to them as they approached. "Prince Callum," he addressed the king's brother. "I'm glad to see you have once again returned safely." He turned to Rayla. "And you must be Lady Rayla, correct?"

"Just Rayla, please," she begged him. "I'm not good with stuffy titles."

Marcos smirked. "Neither is King Ezran. I have a feeling he would have most of us leave off the 'king' part if he could."

Rayla laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like Ezran alright."

The three of them walked into the keep as Marcos led them to the throne room. Marcos spoke again, "I must thank you, Lady Rayla, for sparing my life that night."

"What? Oh, uh, yeah, you're...welcome?" She had been caught completely off-guard by Marcos' statement. 

"Your mercy challenged everything I thought I knew about elves," he explained. "So when the time came that Viren gave us the choice to fight Xadia or leave, I made up my mind not to waste what you'd given me." Rayla looked at him and then at his uniform. He was wearing the same armor he'd worn that night, save for a single accessory, a blue and silver badge that displayed a broken link.

"Callum tells me he heard you were the first to lay down your sword that day," Rayla said slowly.

Marcos nodded soberly. "I was."

Rayla smiled up at him. "I'm really glad I didn't kill you. If I hadn't spared you, I wouldn't have entered the castle before the rest of us to try and fix my mistake. And I wouldn't have been there when Callum and Ezran found the egg of the dragon prince."

The crownguard was a little surprised at Rayla's declaration, but he still gave her a nod of respect as they reached the doors of the throne room. The guards at the doors pushed them open and Marcos walked in first to announce their presence. "King Ezran, Prince Callum and Lady Rayla have arrived."

"Finally!" Ezran exclaimed, standing up from the throne as Marcos moved to the side, allowing Callum and Rayla to step forward. Ezran ran forward and met the two of them in the middle of the room with as big a hug as his arms could manage.

"I see you're doing well for yourself, _King Ezran_ ," Rayla said a little teasingly when they all finally dropped the hug.

"Doing even better now that you're here," Ezran replied.

"His majesty has certainly eagerly awaited your arrival," Opeli stated from her position toward the side of the room, close to the throne.

Amaya stepped forward and signed, " _And so have I._ " She also surged forward before Gren had even finished translating and wrapped Callum in one of her bone-crushing hugs. Callum made a few squeaky grunting noises as his aunt compressed his aching upper body, prompting Rayla to giggle a little. When she finally set him down, she signed, " _You doing alright? Fly safely? No incidents while coming here that I should know about?_ "

"No, no problems, I'm alright," Callum said quickly. "Just a little sore from flying for most of the last two days. I've gotten a lot better though. I was able to carry Rayla all the way here this time and I'm no more tired than when I came alone for my birthday."

Amaya jabbed his shoulder and arm muscles with a finger and signed, " _You certainly have gotten more muscular_." She had a suspicious grin as she said it. She moved on to Rayla, this time with Callum translating. " _You've been taking care of him?_ "

"As much as he lets me," she answered.

Amaya looked at Callum with a raised an eyebrow and looked back at Rayla for clarification.

"I had to drag him away from the library one night because he was about to stay up the whole night studying magic."

"One time!" he complained. "And I wasn't going to be up the whole night!"

"Oh, sure," Rayla drawled sarcastically. "You totally weren't going to lose track of time and stay up until morning. And then we obviously weren't going to get an earful from Ibis about you exhausting yourself when you were falling asleep mid-flight."

Amaya chuckled silently and signed to Rayla. Callum didn't translate, so Gren picked it up for him. " _Good to see you've been taking care of him and he's been devoting himself to his studies. I can't help but wonder if he would be a better swordsman if he applied himself as much to combat training_."

"Well, I'm glad you're both here," Ezran concluded, stepping back towards the doors. "We have a lot of things to catch up on that can't really be put in a letter. And we can also give Rayla a tour since the first time she was here, she...you know."

Lord Rogan suddenly could no longer remain silent. "Your majesty, going off with an elf in the castle is-!"

He suddenly ground to a halt as he met Callum's emerald stare. "Ez, why have you not replaced this man yet?"

"Because I haven't found any replacements, Callum!" Ezran argued. "Why do you think Saleer's spot is still open?"

Callum looked around the room. "Fair point."

"I'm just glad you agreed to take Viren's position when you're finished at the Storm Spire," Ezran told him. "I didn't have the slightest idea who else could possibly fit the role."

"And I'm glad to make things easier for you whenever I can," Callum asserted. "Now about showing Rayla around..."

"Sure, we can catch you both up on the way." Ezran led the way out of the hall, followed closely by Callum, Rayla, some guards, and the rest of the council.

* * *

Callum laid back on his bed in his old room. The walls and the drawers of his desk were still filled with his old art, which Rayla took immense joy in going through and sometimes laughing at. She had found particular amusement in a drawing of a dragon toasting a marshmallow person that he'd drawn only a couple days before they'd met.

"I was thinking of having you move to Viren's old room when you come back for good," Ezran was saying. The council members had left to perform additional duties for the upcoming coronation and the guards had been left outside, so it was just the three of them in the room. "We've cleared out all his possessions from there, and we even scoured his study and his secret dungeon, cleared out as much trace of dark magic as we could. Plus, you'd have more room for studying and you could use his old secret lair as a workshop if you want."

"I don't know, Ez. I have a lot of good memories of this room, and I don't think Viren's ghost would let me sleep too well in his old room."

"Especially if it's with an elf?" Rayla asked from the desk, which she was still looking through. Callum blushed and Ezran giggled.

"That's why I had everyone work so hard to rid those rooms of any trace of him," Ezran told them. "It was really weird the kinds of secrets he had in there. Some guards even found a fake bookshelf that spun around to reveal a solarium containing a dozen glowing butterflies."

"And his staff?" Callum asked.

"Under guard, lock, and key down in the vault near the treasury," Ezran confirmed. "Along with several of his more dangerous-looking dark magic devices."

"I still think you should destroy them," Rayla advised.

"I'm not willing to take that risk just yet," Callum cautiouned. "The more dangerous items, especially the staff, could contain magic that might be extra harmful if they aren't handled properly. Just to be safe, we should have them taken to Lux Aurea for purification once the sunforge is done being purified."

"A good plan," Rayla relented. "Until then, we just have to make sure no one steals them."

"Yeah," Ezran said. "Well, I'd better get going. I'll send someone to get you when it's time for dinner. See you then."

"Good luck out there, Ez," Rayla called as he left. When the door was shut and he was gone, Rayla joined Callum on the bed. "You doing okay, Cal?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" he demanded, sitting up. "I keep telling you, I'm fine, I went flying with Ibis every day back at the Storm Spire. I'm just tired from having flown for so long the last few days."

"You gonna be alright for flying us back when it's all over?"

"Yeah, we're going to be here for more than a week. That's more than enough time for me to rest my arms."

Rayla hummed in her throat, slid her fingers between his, and laid her head on his shoulder. "Good," she murmured.

Callum blessed the top of her head with a light kiss and laid his own head down between her horns. His attention wandered to their entwined hands and he suddenly spoke again. "Funny," he commented.

"What?" Rayla asked, raising her head to look at him.

"Our hands," Callum explained. "Elves' four fingers fit perfectly between humans' five."

Rayla smiled at him. He loved that smile. He wanted her to smile like that at him forever. "I guess it's just one more sign how you and I were meant to be." She leaned over and kissed him. A proper kiss on the mouth. He melted into her arms and the two of them just stayed like that for a while. A meteor could've wiped out the castle and the two of them wouldn't have even noticed.

When they finally separated, Rayla told him, "I love you, Callum."

"I love you too, Rayla." Then Callum smirked. "You actually beat me to it for once."

Rayla laughed and whacked his arm. "Just lie down, mage boy. Get some rest before the guard comes to escort us to dinner. I think I'll keep admiring your art in the meantime."

"Nooo, don't leave meeee!" he whined melodramatically, stretching an arm out after her as she got up from the bed. Rayla laughed at him and went back to the desk so she could keep browsing through his history.

* * *

It had been a busy day in the castle town that day. Many people had been present on the town's main street when a winged Prince Callum with an elf on his back had flown over head and landed on the bridge leading into the castle. Most of them had seen that it was him, too. One such person was a carpenter from Del Bar who had migrated to Katolis looking for work. That same day, he had learned that a new organization working directly under the king was now recruiting in the city. He did not know the name of the boy who had flown over them to the castle, but he had to be related to the king if he went straight to the castle.

He and at least a dozen more like-minded people signed up to the Order of the Broken Chains that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment! Can't get enough comments.
> 
> Just a bit of intriguing political drama followed by lighthearted fluff this time around. I borrowed some ideas on the Katolis high council from erzatscarlet's The Proposal TDP fanfic series, shout-outs to them, go check it out, it's very good. I haven't seen much mention of the Order of the Broken Chains in other fanfics and I thought it would be a cool idea, so I threw it in as well. Maybe sometime I'll write a spin-off story focusing on them exclusively. Let me know your thoughts and suggestions for the name of the Del Barite carpenter in the comments!


	4. Oath of the King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After two days of preparations, Ezran is finally crowned king of Katolis. Callum shows off a little sky magic and dances with Rayla. In front of everyone.

The day was finally here. Today, Ezran would be officially coronated in front of the entire city. The last two days had been a whirlwind of preparations, paperwork, and welcoming foreign delegates who would be present for the ceremony, and finally everything was in place.

Callum struggled into the tight-fitting ceremonial outfit that he would be wearing for the coronation that evening. Rayla was in the next room over changing into a similarly ceremonial garb, and he thought he heard faint sounds of scuffling as the maids tried to dress her. They'd tried to make sure that their outfits hadn't been super gaudy and uncomfortable and he was sure that Rayla would be more or less fine in the somewhat plainer dress they'd picked out, but ceremonial garb was still hard to get into, hence why Callum was still surrounded by three servants trying to make sure he was at least somewhat comfortable in the itchy red jacket, green shirt, and black pants that he would be wearing for the ceremony while still making sure they made him look presentable.

"Is it really necessary for me to wear something so fancy?" he asked his brother, who had just walked in from his own dressing session wearing a dark red fur-lined cape and a red tunic with gold trim.

"If I have to suffer for this occasion, so do you," Ezran declared with crossed arms. He was just as stubborn as his father.

Finally, the servants who'd been in charge of dressing him declared him presentable and he dropped his arms to his sides. He hadn't even been allowed to keep his fingerless gloves, although he'd been given soft black gloves instead, though his scarf at least he was allowed to keep. He addressed Ezran again, "Are you sure you want me to be the one to put the crown on your head? I mean, Opeli's going to be asking you the questions when you're giving the vows."

"I do," Ezran confirmed. "I didn't fight with the rest of the council on this matter just to have you refuse. Besides, I want you to add a little something to the ceremony to give it just that little extra push."

"What is this little something?" Callum asked suspiciously. Ezran beckoned him lean in closer, and Callum bent down so he could whisper in his ear. He straightened back up with a baffled look on his face. "What are you hoping something like that will achieve?"

"It also solidifies your own position," Ezran answered. "I talked to Opeli about it. She wasn't sure about the idea of changing the ceremony, but agreed that it would send a message to those people who don't like that I decided to be king instead of appointing a regent."

Callum gave a sigh of resignation. "Well, if Opeli is in on it, I guess I have to go through with it, don't I?"

"Go through with what?" Rayla asked from the doorway. "Making me feel even more ridiculous?"

Callum turned at the sound of her entering the room. Her simple dark green dress, tall white gloves, and lack of jewlery save for a single teardrop moonstone pendant around her neck made her look even more beautiful than he'd ever seen her.

Rayla looked him in the eyes. "Callum? Wake up, Callum."

He caught himself staring and blushed. "Sorry, sorry," he said, turning away. He almost went to scratch the back of his head with one hand, but caught himself and lowered his hand, not willing to mess up his hair.

Rayla cracked a smile. "Okay, if you're acting like that, I must actually look pretty good in this."

Ezran giggled. "You're so pretty, you fried Callum's brain."

"Ez!" Callum complained, prompting both of them to laugh. Watching them, a smile slowly crept across Callum's face.

Marcos opened the door. "Your majesty, your highness. It's time."

Ezran got his laughter under control and looked up at Callum and Rayla. "Shall we go then?."

Callum looked at Rayla, who smiled and took his hand. "Yes. Let's," Callum told him as Marcos ushered the three of them out the door. Callum, due to his role in the ceremony, would be positioned on the balcony with Opeli for the crowning. Rayla naturally wanted to be near him, and he and Ezran wanted her close as well, but Opeli had discouraged the idea of letting the people see an elf on the balcony with them for the ceremony. Tensions were still high from the Battle of the Storm Spire, after all, so Rayla agreed to be just out of sight by the door of the balcony, keeping watch from behind, perfectly positioned to admire her boyfriend and his brother and simultaneously keep watch for anyone trying to assassinate Ezran before he was even coronated.

When they reached the balcony, Opeli, Soren, Lords Forsyth and Rogan, Corvus, Amaya, Gren, and half a dozen members of the Crownguard were waiting for them. Forsyth and Rogan looked at Rayla with obvious disapproval, but Rayla easily ignored them. She released Callum's hand and pushed him ahead. "Go get em."

"Sure, Rayla," Callum told her, his gaze lingering on her for maybe a little longer than was appropriate.

"You know what I told you?" Ezran asked him.

"I've got it covered," he confirmed.

"You have what covered, Prince Callum?" Lord Forsyth asked.

"A little extra something Ez told me to do to make the ceremony a little more special," he replied. "Don't worry about it."

"If you say so."

Callum looked at Opeli. "Is it time?" The priestess nodded, and then, together with Ezran, they walked over to the doors. The crownguards on either side of them opened them in time with their walk, letting them out onto the balcony beyond. Ezran stepped forward to the edge of the railing so everyone in the square below them could see him, with Callum and Opeli a little behind and on either side. Soren and Corvus, Lords Forsyth and Rogan, and finally Marcos, Amaya, and Gren also followed suit and arranged themselves on either side of the balcony behind the king-to-be.

Ezran, as was customary, looked down at everyone assembled below him and said a few words. "It has been a trying three months since my father died. Too many people have been lost to the war with Xadia, including both of my parents. No one expected me to have to take the throne as early as I am. But I refuse to just sit around and wait for this kingdom and this world to fix itself. I will take up the throne and the crown in the name of my father King Harrow, and live out the wish that he gave to me and to my brother before he died: to reject the chains of history, learn from our past mistakes, and have faith that history, instead of being a narrative of strength, can be a narrative of love."

He turned around and knelt before Opeli and Callum. Callum saw he was trembling. Giving that speech in front of everyone had taken a lot out of him.

Opeli spoke, "Do you, Ezran, swear to uphold the will of your people, to serve and protect and guide them so long as you are able?"

Ezran replied, "I swear."

Opeli looked behind her, motioning for Amaya to bring forth the Crown, and she held aloft the casket in which lay the new crown, a gold band bearing an engraving of a dragon around its perimeter, with the uneven towers that were the symbol of Katolis at the center. Amaya held open this casket to Callum, who delicately received the ornament. Callum cleared his throat and proclaimed in as loud and firm a voice as he could muster, "With the blessings of the sky and as your brother, I crown you, Ezran, as King of Katolis." He set the gold band on his brother's head.

Ezran stood and smiled at his brother. Callum prepared a rune with one hand and whispered the trigger word under his breath while simultaneously drawing in as much magic as he could. When Ezran turned around to face the people below once more, Callum thrust his hand at the sky and shouted with all the force he could muster.

"ALL HAIL KING EZRAN!"

The lightning bolt flashed from Callum's palm as he spoke and the thunderous concussion as it leapt into the air caught everyone by surprise at the sudden display of magic. Real magic, not dark magic. For a second, everyone was silent. And then the entire crowd below erupted with raucous cheers. Ezran stood before his citizens with a fittingly childish grin on his face as the cheering slowly turned into echoing cries of "All hail King Ezran!"

And so the ceremony was concluded without a hitch. As everyone filed off the balcony, Callum asked Ezran, "Did I do that right?"

"You couldn't have done it better!" the boy king told him. "That was awesome!"

Rayla walked up to him. "You showoff."

"What?" Callum wondered. "I don't get a kiss for my efforts?"

Rayla laughed and threw her arms around him. Callum hugged her back until Opeli cleared her throat, at which the two reluctantly separated. "Save it for after the reception you two," she advised.

* * *

The reception was a fancy dress ball with all the noble houses and foreign delegates coupled with a buffet dinner. Normally, the king would be the one to lead his partner onto the dance floor, but since Ezran was so young, Callum had been nominated in his stead. Granted, he'd been a terrible dancer before, as with everything else, but that was before he had Rayla teach him. Ever since her birthday a couple weeks ago when she'd first asked him about it, she'd slowly been instructing him on an elvish dance that was easy enough for him to pick up since it was Rayla who was teaching him. After all, what kind of boyfriend would he be if he couldn't even dance properly with his girl?

Naturally, he'd been nervous when the two of them were expected to lead off the dancing, but Rayla was right there with him on that, and that made him feel better about it. As the music began to play, the two of them faced each other and began to move. Their dance was unlike the slow, formal human dances in that it was far more fluid and required a lot more motion of the arms and legs. Neither of them were sure how their dance would be seen by everyone around them, but it was the only one Callum was able to do well enough for the occasion, so it would have to do.

Their first few motions were a little shaky and self-conscious, but as the steps went by, the two of them slowly tuned out everything else around them. The entire ballroom looked on at the pair of them, but as they moved with increasing fluidity from one elegant motion to the next, to the two of them there was no one else in the room. After a few measures, they were dimly aware of other pairs of human dancers forming a circle around them as they performed more traditional human dances, and despite this, the two of them continued to perform their elegant elvish dance. And so, despite everyone who joined in, everyone's attention was still on them.

As Callum moved in tandem with Rayla, his beloved, he couldn't help but feel the wind around him with his every motion. He'd had this awareness ever since he'd connected to the sky arcanum, but now that he was dancing with Rayla, his feel for the wind suddenly came almost to the forefront as he began to weave his magic into the dance. Soft yet almost visible currents in the air around them came into being as he moved, circling around them as they turned with every beat of the music. Callum had completely tuned out everything around him but Rayla and the wind, and as they continued to dance, the air around them continued to spiral with every step.

Callum was vaguely aware of the song beginning to reach its climax, a signal for him and Rayla to begin the final sequence of the dance. Their steps began to quicken as they moved in unison to the music, the wind working in tandem, gathering around their feet until they were almost dancing on the air itself. Rayla spun into his arms as the music peaked and slowed into a loving hum, and the two slowed to almost a full stop as the room around them fell silent, even the soft wind around them falling away completely without so much as a whisper.

And then the two of them looked up. They were alone in the center of the dance floor, with everyone having seen those final, loving, almost intimate steps of their dance. Rayla looked back at him and smiled. He smiled back. Then they both turned around, standing back to back, and bowed to everyone. Then Callum took Rayla's arm and led her off the dance floor toward one of the buffet tables to the sound of applause.

Soon enough, the music began to play again as the musicians moved on to the next piece and dancers started to take to the floor again. The Sunfire Elves, while they did not come themselves, had sent several presents for Ezran's coronation, one of which was around a bushel of Xadian fruits for the guests at the reception to try. Rayla picked up a few moonberries and popped one in her mouth. Callum did not take any food just yet. He'd noticed Ezran walking over, trailed by Soren and Opeli.

"I didn't expect that at _all_ ," Ezran told them, his eyes round with amazement at the two of them. He looked right at Rayla. "When did you teach him _that_?"

"We've been practicing that dance on our off time for the past couple of weeks since her birthday," Callum answered for her.

"He was terrible at first, but he put in about as much time to learning the dance as he did his magic," Rayla continued. "I think he was motivated by the idea of it being our special thing." She looked at Callum, surprise and giddiness written all over her face. "Those wind magic effects were new, though. I was _not_ expecting that."

Callum grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "I guess it just...came out? I was totally in the zone with the dance, and when I started to feel the wind around us, I just...put a bit of magic into it and...yeah."

"Well, one thing's for sure," Opeli commented. "People are certainly going to want a repeat performance from you sometime. I'd keep practicing."

Callum grimaced. "I'm not even entirely sure how I did that tonight. I probably have to be so into the dance and out of tune with everything else that I can just will the wind to move with me. That's not really something I can do on command."

"So in other words, it's probably something you're only going to be able to do with me?" Rayla asked, throwing another moonberry into her mouth.

He smiled at her. "Most likely."

Ezran interrupted, "Well, I'm going to have to go back to talking with important people. You're going to have to do the same, so get yourself ready before they come to you."

Callum groaned. "Yeah. I'd forgotten about that part."

And so the night went on. As Ezran's brother and currently the only apparent heir, naturally all of the bigwigs in the room wanted to hold some kind of conversation with him, but to his surprise, after his performances that night, some of the other lords were surprisingly accepting of Rayla as well, mostly either out of curiosity as to their dance or their relationship or how she'd managed to turn Callum from an awkward teen who could barely keep from tripping over his own feet into an _incredible_ dancer. The two of them tried to downplay their relationship a bit whenever they were asked about it, but most of them saw right through them anyway. Callum was able to avoid having several lords try to push their daughters onto him that way.

On the other hand, there were the nobles that were more hostile towards Rayla, and to him by extension, due to her elven status. Most of them were able to maintain a curt facade, but others simply ignored them entirely, and one pompous old man openly asked him how he could stand to be around her when elves killed his stepfather. The two of them were in too good of a mood to take offense at his question though, and after they'd finished laughing, Callum told him that people tended to get attached to each other when they'd saved each others' lives as much as they had. The old man in question had bowed stiffly and retreated after that.

Finally the pair of them joined up with Amaya and Gren, who were watching Ezran's progression from across the ballroom. Amaya signed to them, with Gren translating, " _That was quite the dance, you two._ "

"Rayla's a really good teacher," Callum said modestly.

"And you put as much effort into learning it as you do your magic," Rayla objected.

Amaya chuckled. " _I noticed at least a dozen people who were so enchanted by that dance that they'd almost stopped breathing, especially when your magic wind picked up._ "

Callum grimaced. "Did I go too far? Was it too much?"

" _Just be glad there was only enough wind to ruffle our hair, even if it was almost visible._ "

"You might want to dial it back a bit though," Rayla advised. "Otherwise, you'll have us dancing on a miniature thunderstorm next time."

"Okay! Okay! I get the message!" Callum cried.

Rayla snickered and patted her boyfriend on the back. "Teasing aside, I think we're probably done for tonight. Today was quite tiring, after all."

"Yeah," Callum agreed. "I think we've had a chat with pretty much every noble who isn't so anti-elven that they completely refuse to speak with us, anyway."

" _Just be careful,_ " Amaya signed. " _People who would want to stir up trouble will probably find the two of you more of a threat than Ezran._ "

Both of them were immediately on guard. "What do you mean?" Callum asked.

" _Ezran is young yet, so anyone who wants to hurt Katolis would probably think Ezran is better kept alive so he can be manipulated into doing what they want. In that case, the two of you are the greatest threats to such people, as you two are older and more experienced, as well as being incredibly close with the king and with each other. You may still be young, but you're already a symbol of how peace between Xadia and the human kingdoms is possible. Just watch your backs. People are more likely to target you two than Ezran._ "

* * *

Rayla and Callum eventually managed to get back to Callum and Ezran's old room. Callum sat down on his bed and let out a sigh of exhaustion, slowly undoing the buttons of his vest. Rayla sat next to him. "Still thinking of what your aunt told you?"

"Yeah," he admitted.

She pulled him in for a hug. "Don't worry. It'll just be like it's always been for us. You protect me, and I protect you."

Callum cupped her cheek in his hand. "Okay." And then their lips met. When they finally separated, Callum whispered to her, "I love you, Rayla."

"I love you too, Callum."

Callum dropped his arms and adopted a more serious voice. "Maybe we should be a little more careful while we're here. Amaya said she had told Ezran the same thing, so I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to assign more guards to us while we're here, but we could also stand to take a few measures ourselves."

"You have any ideas, mage?"

"Well, one," he admitted. "I could use a sky magic spell to create wind barriers in front of our doors to keep out people we don't want coming in. The trouble is, they probably won't be very strong or last the whole night since we're not at the Storm Spire and the weather outside is pretty clear at the moment."

"I trust your magic," Rayla told him. "If you want to do it, then do it. Just escort me to my room first, please."

"Anything for you, milady." She laughed and swatted his arm before leaving the room, her mage prince following close behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, in this version, Callum is sometimes able to trigger his magic without the use of a spell, though as one might expect, it will certainly not be as strong as when he does use a spell. I see this as being similar to how some sunfire elves are able to enter heat being and light being modes. I've been wanting to do a Callum and Rayla dancing sequence for some time now, and while this one wasn't what I originally had in mind, it's frankly a lot better. I also really love the idea of Callum announcing his brother's coronation with a bolt of lightning.


	5. Dragonguards and Dark Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A slice of life at the Storm Spire before concerning news arrives.

Aaravos' vessel gazed at the dark mage father and daughter as they rested from today's trek northward. The act of leaving the cave and heading northward had come with several risks, the most obvious being that they might be discovered, but the humans had also been living in a cave for two months and weren't in the best physical condition, especially after using as much dark magic as the both of them had. Neither of them were especially fit to be travelling on foot over a large distance in unfamiliar territory, but fortunately he was there to help them, making quick and easy work of the terrain thanks to his new, larger form and his enhanced senses courtesy of his connection to the stars enabling them to avoid any settlements that could alert their enemies to their presence.

Unfortunately, the stink of dark magic was hard to mask, and the Earthblood Elves in the area had caught on to something in the area corrupting the land. Aaravos had already dealt with one unlucky patrol that had stumbled upon the trail they'd left. There would certainly be more to come soon enough. Fortunately, his current form would likely be a decent enough distraction for the elves that were hunting them that he could conceal the dark mages easily enough. After all, his plans relied on the both of them remaining hidden for the time being. 

The vessel's silver eyes focused on Viren, curled up against the cold under a tree that almost seemed to draw back from his presence. He was by far the more experienced of the two, and had a fair amount of power and influence that would likely be more useful to Aaravos in the short term than the long. After all, even if he had not so recklessly engaged in the use of dark magic, he was already getting on in years and would likely burn out in another decade or so anyway, even if the upcoming conflicts didn't kill him first. That was adding onto the fact that he had already died and been revived once before. His life was barely maintained by the dark magic his daughter had used to revive him, merely a shadow of a true life, but still useful nonetheless.

His gaze shifted to the daughter in question, who still caressed the corrupted sunfire staff in her sleep. She was younger and more supple than her father and would likely be a better long-term pawn, but there were still issues with her. Aaravos focused his star primal on the young dark sorceress and observed her splintered fate. She had made some distressing choices of late, not the least of them being the decision to let her brother go and not to follow him. Even so, she was still distressed and confused about whether her decisions had been right. She still had her father and her dark magic, the two things that she cared about by far the most, but she had lost everything else: her brother, her mother, her home, her friends, and slowly even her body. Aaravos' gaze shifted to the half of her hair that glowed white in the moonlight and a smirk crossed his draconic face. An apt analogy for what the future had in store for her, he thought.

Of course, he would be able to control her. But there was still that chance that she would turn her back on him and try to go back to her brother and her old friends. Aaravos resolved to keep an incredibly close eye on her.

Something was moving closer to them, following the stink of dark magic through the woods they were resting in. He moved to rouse the dark mages, already planning how he would deal with this elven patrol. Perhaps now would be a good time to try out that new magic he'd been working on...

* * *

Far to the south, Callum was also working on a new kind of magic. Mind you, it wasn't brand new, it was just new for him. Before, he'd always drawn the runes he'd used for his magic with his fingers. Now, Ibis was having him draw the runes with his feet. While he was still flying. And it turned out, it was just as difficult as Rayla had expected it to be. Callum had never had a problem with the runes themselves, whether it came to drawing them or memorizing them, but the sudden change in perspective had certainly thrown him off. At least he didn't have to practice much with drawing runes with both hands at once. He was ambidextrous after all. Rayla knew she could never manage to do the kinds of things he was doing.

"Is he still up there?" Arda, one of the Earthblood Elves to have joined the Dragonguard while she was away, asked her. She had the same branching antlers and dark skin as most of her people and had been clad in much the same greens, grays, and browns as them before she'd made the transition to the sky blue and silver armor of the Dragonguard, as much as it clashed with her amber eyes and dark brown hair. Her weapon of choice was a swallow axe, a pole weapon with single battle-axe blades on either end that pointed in opposite directions of each other. She was probably the most accepting of the other elves of Callum's status in relation to Rayla and the dragon prince and queen.

"He is," Rayla confirmed, still looking up towards the pinnacle. Occasionally, a cry of frustration would disturb the air, followed by the occasional feather floating down on the wind.

A laugh came from behind the two girls. It was the sole Skywing Elf to have joined them, named Nimbus. He was brash and aggressive, but his skill with virtually any kind of projectile had almost earned him a position on the Dragonguard by itself. His sky blue eyes were currently filled with mirth at the thought of Callum struggling. "Don't tell me the sky magic prodigy is actually _failing_ something!" he laughed.

"You clearly don't know Callum at all," Rayla answered calmly, despite her blood boiling at the provocation. "He got it earlier, he's just being stubborn about wanting to be able to do it consistently. And for the record, you know how bad he is at everything other than magic and art, so what the heck are you getting on his case for?" Rayla had to shut herself up before she snapped at him any further.

Nimbus held his hands up and flared out his wings in the ultimate gesture of surrender. "Whoa, I know, I know. Didn't mean any offense. Just thought it was funny. Besides, it just makes it that much harder to hate him for being human." If Arda wasn't the most accepting of Callum of the new Dragonguard, it was definitely Nimbus. Nimbus had often come out to watch Callum's magic lessons with Ibis since Callum and Rayla had returned to the Storm Spire a week ago, and Rayla was beginning to suspect that he was a bit jealous of people who could use magic as easily as her prince. Nimbus had apparently been enamored with the idea of being able to cast spells at a young age, but quickly realized he had no talent for it, instead his talents being tuned more toward shooting a bow or using flechettes or throwing knives, all of which he still carried on his person at all times.

Nimbus' tone turned more serious when he said, "How long has he been at that?"

"Since lunch," Rayla answered in a concerned tone.

Arda rounded on her. "It's almost sunset!"

"If he takes much longer, I'll send Nimbus up to drag him back down."

"Hey, I'm not a messenger crow!" Nimbus complained.

"Obviously," Rayla said sarcastically. The wait was making her antsy. "Messenger crows don't complain."

A lightning bolt thundered overhead as she spoke. Then, about half a minute later, another one followed. Rayla's eyes gleamed as she realized that Callum must've been able to successfully execute the technique twice in a row. Her conclusion was confirmed when two winged mages dropped down out of the sky above the pinnacle and landed on the precipice before the three watching Dragonguards. Callum was clearly exhausted, gasping for breath and sweating profusely as he dropped the spell that maintained his mage wings and stumbled towards them, Rayla jogging forwards and meeting him halfway with a hug, Arda and Nimbus following a little behind.

"You okay?" she asked him, loosening her embrace so that she was supporting him by one arm instead.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he gasped, waving her off him. He took a few deep breaths and told her more coherently, "Took quite a while to get the hang of that maneuver. Still don't have it totally down, so I guess that's what tomorrow's practice will be. Should also visit the library after dinner to look up some more new spells-"

"Callum, enough," Rayla commanded. "Stop thinking so much about magic. You need to _rest_."

"Rayla," Callum tried to object.

"Listen to her, Callum," Ibis cut in. "I know you want to learn as much magic as you possibly can, but for you to properly ingrain the things you learn into yourself, you need to rest. I advise that after a bath and some dinner you go straight to bed. You stayed out far longer than I was comfortable with learning that technique, and in the morning, you're going to be so sore you'll hardly want to move at all. Tomorrow will just be rune tracing so we can give your muscles some time to recover, and _then_ we'll continue where we left off today."

"Yes, master," Callum sighed. Then he grinned. "I seem to recall you promising to be a strict teacher back when I asked you to train me after the Battle of the Storm Spire."

"That was before he realized that you were an even stricter student," Rayla told him ironically.

"Need any help with him?" Nimbus asked.

"I've got him," Rayla replied. She was already pushing him toward the entrance to the halls inside the mountain.

"You sure?" Arda prodded with a mischievous smile.

Rayla shot her a suspicious glare. "He's _my_ handsome, funny, self-sacrificing human mage. Find your own."

Both of them laughed out loud at this declaration. Nimbus shook his head helplessly. "Lucky bastard," he muttered under his breath.

"You know it," Rayla told him with a slightly smug grin. They made their way inside.

The other four elves who made up the new Dragonguard recruits were gathered around the table, maintaining their weapons and talking, resting from that afternoon's training session. The group was composed of two Sunfire Elves, another Earthblood Elf, and a Moonshadow Elf. The Sunfire Elves were still apprehensive about Callum's presence and his relationship with Rayla, but both of them had participated in the Battle of the Storm Spire, so they were at least respectful of the two of them. The Earthblood Elf and the Moonshadow Elf were not so positively inclined. They at least maintained a respectful decorum towards the pair, but they clearly still disliked the idea of the two of them, regardless of how much things had changed in the last three months.

Rayla wasn't particularly surprised or bothered by them. Earthblood and Moonshadow Elves were well-known for being more conservative than the other elven races. In fact, it had been fairly surprising for Rayla when Arda had shown up and been so supportive of the two of them from the start. At least the Moonshadow Elf wasn't from the Silvergrove. Rayla still remembered the look of cold fury on Zubeia's face when it had come out that her hometown had Ghosted her for what had been perceived as abandoning her team and her mission. Callum had told the dragon queen what he'd seen when he'd used _Historia Viventum_ in her chamber the day before the Battle of the Storm Spire and she'd had it confirmed by a moon mage from a local village, so after an entire month of dithering on the decision whether to remove the Ghosting on her and her parents, Zubeia had finally declared that any candidates for the Dragonguard from the Silvergrove would be out of the running until the decision was made to remove the Ghosting on both Rayla and her parents.

Callum had found a certain satisfaction from that response for some reason.

The four of them looked up as Callum and Rayla entered the room. "Just taking this overworking dummy to the baths. Don't mind us," Rayla called over to them.

"Be our guest," the Earthblood Elf muttered, returning to sharpening his lance.

"Make sure he goes to bed early, too," one of the Sunfire Elves told her, looking on with concern. "What the heck was he doing to get that tired?"

"Drawing runes with his feet while trying to stay in flight at the same time."

Regardless of how they felt about Callum, all four heads whipped around and stared at him as Rayla half-pushed, half-carried him into the inner chambers.

"It wasn't _that_ bad," Callum tried to say.

"Tell them that when you're not about to fall down," Rayla told him.

* * *

A bath, a meal, and a good night's sleep did Callum a world of good. Unfortunately, as Ibis predicted, every muscle in his body was so sore he could barely move, especially in his arms and chest.

"Well?" Rayla asked him with her hands on her hips when he got up.

"Ow, ow. Yeah, flying like this would be a really bad idea."

"And what have we learned about being stubborn?"

"Uh...don't be?"

She lightly whacked him on the arm. "No, dummy. What you were _supposed_ to learn is that learning magic is _not_ _a_ _race_." She spaced out each word to make sure he understood. "If you try to do too much too fast, you'll either burn out or hurt yourself."

"Or both," he groaned, trying to pull himself out of bed.

"Take it slow, Callum," Rayla advised, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I'll bring you some breakfast. Just make sure you get some rest today."

"Okay, I got it!" Callum interrupted. "I'll try to avoid exerting myself today. Can I get a kiss before you go?"

Rayla happily obliged him on the kiss and left the room. Callum sat on the edge of the bed for a couple minutes while he let his sore body relax. Then, he picked up his sketchbook from the bedside table and started drawing. In a few minutes, he had completed his latest sketch and went back through his various notes on the different types of sky magic runes that he'd been learning for the last two and a half months.

Soon enough, Rayla returned with a plate of food and set it on the bedside table before crawling up on his other side and plucking the sketchbook out of his hands.

"Hey!" he complained. 

"Eat first," she commanded. "Then I'll give it back."

Callum pouted a little even though he was laughing inside and picked up the plate of food. He was about halfway through a muffin when Rayla asked, "So this is what you were trying to do yesterday?"

Callum looked over her shoulder. It was his latest sketch: a picture of himself mid-flight seemingly kicking toward the lower left-hand corner of the page with a Fulminis rune etched into the air at the tip of his boot.

"Yeah," he answered. "Mind you, I can't make it look anywhere near that cool."

"I couldn't do cool flips and acrobatics when I was first learning to slish-slash with my blades," she reminded him. "You just need time to learn it."

"I guess," he replied. "In the meantime, since you won't let me leave my bed, what's happening outside?"

Rayla's mood became somber. "There's been traces of dark magic found in the forests north of the Storm Spire."

"What?" Callum was immediately alert. 

"It seems to be a trail of isolated spots, starting at an area just northeast of the Storm Spire slowly creeping northward." She looked him in the face. "A couple of Earthblood Elven patrols tried tracking down whatever was leaving the trail. They didn't come back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally going to introduce the new leaders of the other human kingdoms this chapter, but I figured talking about the new Dragonguard would be more interesting at the moment. Fear not, o ye who wish to see more political drama, they will arrive when the conflict begins to involve their countries.


	6. Warnings and Preparations

"It has to be Claudia," Callum was saying. "There's no other explanation."

It was evening of the same day that the news had come in and Zubeia was holding a meeting with everyone at the Storm Spire in her chamber. When he'd heard the news, Callum had wanted to immediately jump up and chase her down, but Rayla had finally managed to talk him down after his stiff upper body got the better of him. So now, after a day of distracted training, they were sitting with Ibis, Zubeia, Zym, and the rest of the Dragonguard trying to plan their next move.

"If that is the case and it is her," Ibis spoke up, "we will need as much information on her as we can get."

"Agreed," Zubeia rumbled. "We know she possesses a staff with a corrupted sun primal stone and is at least able to use it with a great amount of power and effectiveness, as she demonstrated in the Battle of the Storm Spire."

"That's right," Callum confirmed. "She was able to cast a dark fireball that wiped out the center of the Sunfire Elves' vanguard and a dark shield that protected her father, herself, and the former Lord Saleer from dragon fire. I saw it from my position on the stairs leading up the spire. She is also highly skilled in dark magic. I'm afraid I don't know how strong she'll be in a fight with dark magic alone. Most of the magic I saw her do while we were growing up was small, low-level tricks for quality of life and such, minus this one spell where she can turn chains into snakes. She has a pair of bracelets on her left arm that she uses for this spell in particular. Rayla and I have also seen her summon smoke wolves to chase us, but I was able to beat them with just _Aspiro_."

"Such phantoms would be weak against sky magic, yes," Ibis noted.

"She's only strong if she can use dark magic," Callum concluded. "If you can keep her from using it, she should be easy enough to catch. It was mostly her brother Soren who was trained in physical combat."

"There's something I'd like to know as well," Arda interrupted. "If this really is the dark mage that you speak of, why would she be headed north? Why would she not head west back to her kingdom on the human side of the breach?"

"I was wondering that too," said the other Moonshadow Elf, whose name Rayla remembered was Tychus. "You'd think if she could get back across the breach, the other humans would welcome her with open arms."

Rayla scoffed at him before Callum could get angry. "As if. She was one of her father's closest supporters in Katolis. I'm quite sure that some higher-ups in Katolis would love to have her imprisoned for treason."

"Then why wouldn't she try to get into one of the other human kingdoms?" Nimbus asked.

"Maybe because it would be hard to?" Callum suggested. "Katolis and Duren are the only human kingdoms adjacent to the breach, so it would be difficult to trek all the way to the breach, slip past the standing battalion, and cross through all of Katolis to get to Del Bar, Evenere, or Neolandia."

"Then why go to the Shiverglades?" asked the male Sunfire Elf, Fynn. "As far as we know, there's nothing in the area she's trying to reach."

"That may be the point," Ibis spoke again. "Were she able to reach an area that is remote enough from the various elven civilizations, she would be free to set up some sort of base and continue to amass her strength until she has enough power to take vengeance for her father's death."

The other Earthblood Elf, Peter, scoffed at this. "She'll freeze to death long before then."

"She has a sun primal stone," the female Sunfire Elf, Alina, reminded him.

His forehead creased. "Oh yeah."

"Also," Zubeia continued, "The Earthblood trackers who visited some of the areas where dark magic was detected also found evidence of a large, dragonlike creature. It supposedly is around four meters long, has more than six legs, and is most likely flightless. We believe this creature to be the reason why none of the Earthblood patrols sent to find the head of this trail of dark magic have returned."

The entire room was silent as they processed this information. Finally, Nimbus spoke. "So...does anyone have any idea what this thing is and why it's out there?"

Rayla swallowed and said, "I might know. When Viren, Claudia's father, attacked me at the Storm Spire, he had this strange...creature draped over his shoulders. It was like a combination of a snake and a caterpillar, with a lot of stubby legs, a snakelike body, and a weird, insectlike head."

"What happened to it?" Ibis asked.

"When I tackled the dark mage off the edge of the pinnacle, it fell with him."

"So if they're the same creature," Callum concluded, "it might be possible that Viren is still alive?"

"But how?" Rayla asked. "There's no way anyone could survive a fall from that height!"

"Maybe he used some sort of sneaky dark magic to escape at the last second, make us think he was dead," Tychus sneered.

"Sounds like Viren, I'll admit," Callum conceded.

"And the earliest of the locations on the dark magic trail appeared about a week ago just a few clicks north of the Storm Spire?" Arda wondered. "Why take this long to start moving?"

"There are a lot of things about this situation that we do not entirely understand," Zubeia admitted, "but we won't know for sure until whatever is at the head of the trail is confronted and stopped. There is also a chance that this creature was sent out as a diversion to draw us away from the Storm Spire so this Claudia could strike at little Azymondias herself." She looked down at her dragonling, who gave a fearful yip. Looking back at the assembled elves and human, she continued, "The Sunfire Elves and the Earthblood Elves were also notified about the situation, and more messages will go out tonight along with all the information that we have gathered. I am comfortable with sending up to three of the Dragonguard to assist the Sunfire and Earthblood warriors who will be sent to deal with this threat. The rest will remain here at the Storm Spire in case this is a diversion."

"I'll go," Callum said immediately, standing up from his seat on the steps.

"Callum!" Rayla objected, standing up herself. "You're barely half-trained! It's too soon for you to be heading off to fight a dark dragon!"

"I'm not a frontline fighter, remember?" he countered. "I'm a mage. I'm best if I can keep my distance anyway, so I'll be able to avoid getting eaten."

"And what about Claudia, if she's there?" she demanded.

"All the more reason for me to go," he asserted. "She'll know me; we grew up together. I may be able to convince her to return with us peacefully."

Rayla grit her teeth. She didn't want to admit that he was making some good points. "Ibis, talk some sense into him!" she demanded, rounding on his mentor.

"I see little issue with it, Rayla," Ibis admitted. "He makes some good points."

"Not you too!"

"Hey, Rayla," Callum interrupted, putting a hand on her shoulder. "If you don't like it, then come with me. If you come with me, then all we have to do is keep each other safe. Okay?"

Rayla let herself relax a little. "I still don't like it."

"I don't either," Callum told her. "But I have to."

"Well, it seems we have our first two volunteers," Zubeia observed. "Do any of the rest of you wish to join them?"

The new recruits were silent for a minute. Then Nimbus sighed, stood up, and said, "Well, if anyone's going to join them, it'll probably have to be me. I'm the only other one here with wings after all."

"An astute observation," Ibis noted.

"I mean besides yourself and their majesties of course," he quickly corrected himself. "But I assume you're all going to be staying here."

"That would be correct," Zubeia answered. "Even if we abandoned the Storm Spire, I am not willing to let it be ransacked a second time."

"So when do we leave?" Callum asked, looking up at her.

"We hope to receive word from Lux Aurea and the Drakenwood within the next two days," was the answer. "Once the squadrons they will hopefully lend have assembled, you will meet them at the first area where the stink of dark magic was detected and follow the trail until you find whatever has been causing it. You will have to move quickly, lest whatever it is that we are hunting escapes."

"Understood, your majesty," Rayla said, bowing to the dragon queen. Callum and Nimbus followed suit and the three of them made to leave so they could start preparing.

"By the way, Callum," Ibis called to his human apprentice.

Callum stopped and turned at his voice. "Yes, master?"

"I highly advise you not try flying until it is time for you to leave."

"Yes, master."

"Don't worry," Rayla called back, "I'll be making sure he doesn't!"

"Rayla!" Callum complained. She only laughed and dragged him back to their chambers.

* * *

It was late the next day when word came in from Lux Aurea and Drakenwood. Lux Aurea would be contributing a dozen elite warriors on Twin-Tailed Inferno-Tooth Tigers while the Earthblood Elves of Drakenwood would be sending fourteen initially, with ten more joining them as they followed the trail. They would've sent more (the Earthblood Elves really hated that their woods had been defiled by dark magic) but reluctantly followed Zubeia and Ibis' advice to make sure that their troops would be a smaller company of fast-moving elites. In total, their company would be comprised of almost 40 individuals, and assuming that they were all highly trained warriors, it would likely almost certainly be enough to deal with Claudia, Viren, and whatever that dragonlike creature was.

Rayla and Callum had packed an extra set of clothes each, some moonberry juice rations, cloaks, and a few extra necessities that they might end up needing along the way such as a pocket knife, Callum's sketchbook, the Key of Aaravos, and a sky pearl that Ibis had insisted Callum bring just in case to give him an extra boost in sky primal magic if he needed it.

"I still think you should bring a weapon of some kind," Rayla told him when they looked back at what they'd packed the next morning.

"Rayla, the only weapon I've trained with is the sword, and I'm useless with one," Callum told her. "Besides, I don't own any weapons."

"Fine," Rayla told him, "But I'd still feel safer if you had one. A mage's biggest weakness is getting in close. Remember Kasef?"

Callum flinched. "Yeah, I do."

Rayla put a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry. I didn't mean to remind you of that. Besides, it's not like you're totally hopeless up close. I mean, you can do the whole zap-hands thing, right? Like when you only knew half of a lightning spell?"

He brightened a little. "I keep forgetting about that."

"Come on," Rayla told him. "We need to get going so we properly meet up with the hunting force."

"You're right," Callum replied, shouldering his pack and handing Rayla hers. "Let's go find Nimbus, say good bye to everyone and head out to the rendesvous point."

Nimbus was waiting for them next to the hall leading into the queen's chamber. His pack was even smaller than theirs, but he had his bow slung across his back, his quiver on his hip, and his arsenal of throwing knives strapped to his thighs and shins. "Been waiting for you two for over an hour!" he complained. "Let's go! We have places to be!"

"Not everyone wakes up while it's still dark outside, Nimbus," Rayla objected.

Zubeia was sitting outside the entrance with Zym and Ibis when the three of them walked outside. "You are leaving now?" Ibis asked when they approached.

"Yeah," Rayla answered. "If we leave now, we can get to the rendezvous point while it's still early."

"Indeed," Zubeia acknowledged. She looked off into the distance. Her wistful expression meant Rayla could only guess what she was thinking about. "I wish you good luck on your hunting."

Ibis gave Callum a hug before holding him at arms' length by the shoulders and saying, "Remember what I've taught you."

Callum gave him a confident nod. "I will, master."

"Good." The sky mage let his arms fall to his sides. "Now get going before I lose my nerve."

Callum grinned, stretched out his arms, and chanted, " _Manus, Pluma, Volantus!_ " Immediately, his arms turned into those familiar brown wings. Rayla wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he said, "See you in five days," and leapt into the air with her, Nimbus bowing to the dragon queen before following them into the sky.

* * *

It was only a couple of hours in the air before they caught sight of a small circle of Inferno Tigers on the ground next to a forest. A herd of brown and emerald stags were approaching them from the ground. "Looks like we're right on time," Rayla remarked as Callum dropped out of the sky after Nimbus, who'd already moved a little ahead. The three of them landed on the ground a little ways away from the gathering elves before walking up to meet them. They walked up to a circle of five elves, evidently the leaders, who were in the middle of exchanging greetings.

"I saw you flying in," one of the Sunfire Elves, clearly the superior of the two who were present. She noted Rayla and Nimbus' dragonguard armor and said, "I assume you are the three that the dragon queen sent to accompany us?"

"That's right," Nimbus answered easily.

She gave a respectful bow to them, and her second followed suit. "I am Keren, knight of Lux Aurea, and this is my second, Helio."

"My name is Haldor," the leader of the Earthblood Elves said curtly. "My fellows are Mira and Terran," he continued, indicating the female and the male respectively.

"My name's Rayla," Rayla introduced herself. "This is Callum. That one's Nimbus."

"What dark magic are you using, human?" Terran spat at Callum.

All three of them were taken aback by this speech. "Excuse me?" Callum asked.

"Everyone knows humans can't do magic without a primal stone. You clearly don't have one, so how were you able to use magic without one?"

"Callum's not a dark mage," Rayla told him flatly.

"Shut up, girl, unless you want to fight me."

Callum's finger slashed through the air, drawing the _Fulminis_ rune before anyone could blink. Snatching the resulting ball of lightning out of the air, he held it aloft as he stared down the older Earthblood Elf. "You really want to do that?" he asked coldly. Rayla shivered at the tone of his voice. She'd never heard him use that tone before.

"Enough!" Haldor demanded. "Continue to spew insults at your own peril, Terran."

"So it is true," Mira said in almost a whisper as Callum closed his hand, extinguishing the ball of lightning. "A human that can do primal magic."

"I know," Nimbus said. "So unfair that he has so much talent with sky magic when I was born with the arcanum and still struggle to hold a basic rune in place."

"I was there during the Battle of the Storm Spire, so I and the rest of the Sunfire warriors present knew he was capable, but this is still my first time witnessing it," Keren admitted.

"Alright, enough about me," Callum said flatly. "We're here to start hunting a dragon creature and the dark mages that might be with it."

"Friends of yours?" Terran sneered.

"Not anymore," Callum shot back. "That's why I'm here. If it's who I think it is, I may be able to convince them to return with us without a struggle."

Terran muttered something under his breath, but didn't make a retort while he was still under his leader's glare.

Keren laid out the situation. "At the very least, we're dealing with a creature similar to a dragon but most likely incapable of flight. Two Earthblood Elf patrols have vanished after trying to follow it. We hunt it down and kill it, and if there are any humans with it, we take them alive if possible. If not, we kill them too if necessary."

"That's the plan," Rayla answered.

"I'm not opposed to taking them alive, but why not just kill them all?" Haldor asked.

"They have crimes to answer for," Keren replied.

"Understandable," Mira said.

"Right," Haldor continued. "We all know where the trail is, then?"

"That's right," Helio spoke up for the first time.

"I propose that your warriors spread out on the ground and follow the trail directly," Keren proposed. "My soldiers will stay with you just above the trees and the three that the dragon queen has lent us can scout from the sky."

"A good plan," Haldor mused. "Any of us can easily alert the others when we find whatever is leaving this trail and we can strike before it knows we're there."

"Aye," Keren agreed. "Since it's already noon, we should eat a little before we begin the hunt. Once we are done, we begin."

Callum clenched his fist. Rayla took his hand in hers and the two exchanged sad smiles. "We'll find them. And once we do, we'll finally finish this."

"Yeah."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned, things are going to get exciting next time!


	7. Hunting Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The elves hunting them have finally caught up to Viren, Claudia, and Aaravos. Surprises are in store for everyone involved.

"We're in danger," Aaravos' vessel told a startled Viren and Claudia. "A large band of elves is coming this way, and fast."

"How many?" Viren asked. He held the walking stick he'd picked up like a spear, ready to fight.

"Too many for us to fight off alone," Aaravos replied, coiling on the ground next to them. "Listen, both of you. In order for our plans to work, all three of us must get out of this alive, and preferably with as many of our cards still hidden as possible. Viren, I know that you are an adept fighter and an experienced dark mage, but this time I must tell you to go on ahead of us while Claudia and I stall the enemy."

"I can't do that!" he tried to protest.

"You're too valuable to lose," Aaravos insisted. "Besides, you no longer have your staff and the elves don't know you're alive. As long as they don't know, we have an advantage, so you must be the first to retreat. In the meantime, Claudia and I must stall the enemy and catch up once they are sufficiently delayed. Here's what we must do..."

* * *

Nimbus' hawklike eyes were naturally the first to catch sight of the creature through the treeline. "I see something!" he suddenly called out. "A purple and silver snakelike thing about 200 meters dead ahead!"

"That'll be it," Rayla remarked.

"We'll tell the others," Callum told him. "Keep your eyes on it." He swooped in lower to speak with Keren. "Keren! Nimbus spotted the creature about 200 meters ahead!"

"We're closing in fast," she remarked. "Get word to the ground forces so they are ready to intercept."

"Got it," Callum replied, diving into the canopy and engaging in some tricky maneuvers to avoid hitting any trees or branches. He quickly found Haldor riding on his stag and delivered the same message. "Haldor! Nimbus spotted the creature about a minute ago, said it was 200 meters dead ahead!"

"Excellent!" Haldor called back. "We'll surround it on the ground. Make sure the Sunfire Elves are ready to intercept it from the air!"

"They're already on it!" Rayla told him as Callum beat his wings thrice and soared back up into the sky.

Once they were level with the Sunfire Elves' Inferno Tigers, Callum asked Keren, "You ready?"

"Let's destroy whatever is polluting our forests," Keren growled. Raising her hand to her soldiers, she thrust it forward with a great battle-cry and the formation of Inferno Tigers dropped down to just above the canopy, now actively scanning for the creature.

Nimbus dropped in alongside them, his longbow already strung and in his hand, a nocked arrow on the string. "Shall we join them?" he asked, his tone much more serious than usual. Callum and Rayla nodded to him and then they swooped in after the Sunfire Elves, who had just dived into the canopy. The roar of a great beast followed.

The three of them landed in the branches of a tree overlooking the battlefield. The elves had stopped, weapons drawn, surrounding a great, grotesque creature with an evil-looking draconic head, twelve legs with dangerous-looking claws, and a fifteen meter, purple-scaled, snakelike body with silver patterns. Rayla shuddered as she beheld it. "It looks just like it, only bigger and more draconic."

"Are you sure?" Callum asked.

"Yes. Those silver patterns are a perfect match." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Keep me safe, okay?"

"You got it."

Rayla dropped down to the ground and flipped out both of her blades, while Callum immediately prepared to draw a rune in the air. The creature turned as it coiled on the ground and gazed at Rayla. Then its head turned upwards and looked Callum right in the eyes where he stood, ready to cast his magic. They stood like that for a few seconds, everyone just waiting for someone to move.

Suddenly the creature lunged straight at Rayla, who had to dodge behind the tree to avoid its snapping jaws. " _Aspiro Frigis!_ " Callum cried out immediately afterward, blasting it in the back of the neck with a focused stream of cold, freezing it to the ground. Shouts of surprise and clashes of metal rang throughout the battleground as something assailed the elves on the ground, but Callum was only focused on Rayla and drawing his next few runes. Rayla leaped around the tree, striking at the creature's scales with her blades, but they didn't make a dent in its scales. The thing slashed at the ice with its claws and broke its head free before it whipped around to attack again. It was even faster than the giant illusory tapeworm they'd battled on the slope of the Cursed Caldera. It ignored Nimbus' arrows and lunged at Rayla again, simultaneously slamming its tail against the tree where Nimbus and Callum were still perched, sending waves of force up the trunk and almost causing Nimbus and Callum to lose their balance. While he was recovering, Callum took the opportunity to glance around the rest of the battlefield.

Twenty shadowy soldiers had joined the battlefield. Half of them had the same purple-glowing smoky bodies as the wolves he and Rayla had fought when they escaped from Claudia with the dragon egg the night they met. The other half were more solid, covered in an aura of darkness that almost seemed fluid, and they attacked with a ruthlessness and power that the elves on the ground hadn't expected. All of them, both the smoke warriors and the shadowy berserkers, held spears and swords and had the shapes of Earthblood Elves.

Callum steadied himself and began to draw another rune as the creature on the ground lunged again at Rayla and missed. The Moonshadow Elf vaulted over its back and leapt off its purple scales just in time for him to unleash a resounding " _Fulminis!_ " and drop a bolt of lightning directly on the creature's back. As it roared in pain, several elves disengaged from the shadowy foes and moved to attack the creature directly, jabbing under its scales. Callum was already drawing a new rune, this one directed not at the creature, but at the smoky elves that had already killed five of their number and none of the elves on the ground were able to hit.

" _Ventus Circumitus!_ "

Callum swung his arm in a circle above his head before directing it at the battlefield below. A powerful wind swept across the ground, ripping the smoke warriors to shreds and even blowing back the shadow berserkers. The elves on the ground shouted with renewed resolve and moved to finish off the shadow berserkers, two of which had already succumbed to the elves' blades.

Suddenly, there was a blood-curdling scream below Callum as one of the Sunfire Elves attacking the creature below him was unable to dodge its teeth and was caught in its mouth. The creature immediately released him and attacked a stunned Earthblood Elf standing nearby, closing its jaws around his body before he could even attempt to dodge. He too screamed in pain as the creature released him and the rest of the elves moved to defend themselves again, leaving Callum to watch as shadowy auras overtook their bodies, turning them into the same shadow berserkers as the ones that were currently being finished off by the rest of the elven force.

Several cries caught Callum's attention as the creature barreled past the elves trying to attack it, catching one in its mouth by one arm and tossing her aside and slashing at another, who fell, bleeding from his chest. Now in the clear, it shot towards the elves still finishing off its shadowy berserkers. Terran turned around and found himself right in the creature's path and braced himself for a blow when there was a sudden cry of " _Murum Aeris!_ " and it slammed into a wind barrier that sprung up between them. Momentarily stunned, Terran looked over at Callum, who was already drawing another rune, this one much bigger and brighter than his previous ones. "Everyone scatter!" he yelled to anyone who could hear, and cast his spell at the momentarily stunned creature.

" _Fulminis Magna!_ "

The lightning bolt that he cast at the dark dragon was five times bigger than any he had previously summoned, and the whiplash from casting the massive spell was enough to knock him out of the tree. Rayla managed to catch him before he hit the ground and set him up on his feet, moving slowly now to avoid unbalancing him further.

"You alright?" she asked him.

"I'm fine," he answered. "Did I get it?"

The elves that had heeded his warning and scattered when they saw him draw the rune were picking themselves off the ground and peeking out from behind trees. As the dust settled, the dark dragon was revealed, still alive and coiled on the ground, protecting the large burn mark on its side. It glared at Callum from across the battlefield, but strangely, there was no rage in its creepy silver eyes. Instead, he only saw...curiosity?

The seven remaining shadowy berserkers gathered around the creature, facing the elves who were closing in from the sides. Callum had expended a good deal of his magic, but he suspected it might be possible for them to deal with the creature before it had a chance to get away. That hope died when he heard a familiar voice cry aloud.

" _Tenebris Coruscare!_ "

A wave of dark fire was directed at the elves from the side. Caught almost completely by surprise, the elves shouted and jumped back in shock, only barely creating enough room between them and the wave of fire before Callum was able to react with another lightning-quick " _Murum Aeris!_ " The fire slammed into the air wall and was blown back, setting several trees on fire. Claudia was forced out of her hiding place as the trees around her began to catch fire. Both Callum and the elves noticed her, and in a panic, she began to draw another rune in the air with the corrupted staff. Callum started drawing a split second later, and two cries rang out one after the other.

" _Noctu Igne!_ "

" _Ventus Deflecto!_ "

Claudia's sphere of dark fire was caught by Callum's deflecting wind and spun away towards the dark dragon and its shadow berserkers, striking the trees on the other side of them and exploding. Claudia immediately ran.

"CLAUDIAAA!!" Callum bellowed after her, running forward and summoning his mage wings.

"Callum, don't!" Rayla cried out after him, but he was already airborne.

* * *

Claudia was running. She had no idea how Callum was doing magic without a primal stone, but he was, and his mastery of it had caught her completely by surprise. Scared her. All that time he'd been growing up, he'd been expected to learn swordfighting and horseback riding, and hadn't been good at anything other than art. And yet, when she'd peered through the trees to watch the fight, he was there, standing above it all, casting down restraining ice, winds that had torn her father's smoke elves to shreds, and bolts of lightning that were even capable of hurting whatever that thing that called itself Aaravos was. Suddenly, a shadow fell over her, and all her hair stood on end.

" _Fulminis!_ "

Claudia instinctively dove to one side as the lightning bolt struck the ground near her feet. She tumbled to a stop next to a creek that split the treeline in two just to her left. When she looked up, Callum was landing in front of her, his wings already fading back into rune-painted arms. Callum stood up.

Claudia looked at the boy whose heart she'd once stolen. He hadn't grown much taller in the almost three months since they'd last seen each other up close, but his arms were noticeably more muscular and painted with ancient draconic runes that no doubt enabled him to turn his arms into wings. His skin was more toned, his expression harder, more set. His jacket was gone and he wore a crimson-lined dark blue sleveless tunic and black pants. His Katolian boots had been replaced with close-fitting Xadian boots as well, but he still kept his familiar scarf. This Callum she knew was not the dorky kid who'd had a crush on her for most of their childhood. He could use magic now, real magic that would be forever beyond her grasp. Claudia, by contrast, was skinny and malnourished, had half of her hair turned white, wore ragged black and gold clothing and hadn't bathed properly in months.

"Claudia," he said simply, yet with a hit of urgency in his voice. "Please, stop this."

"And do what?" she demanded, clutching the staff with both hands. "Go home with you? Beg for Ezran's forgiveness? Make friends with the monsters that killed my father like you did?"

"They're not monsters, Claudia," Callum said stubbornly.

"They killed my father!" Claudia was yelling now. "And you saved the one that did it!"

Callum flinched. "Claudia, he was going to kill the dragon prince! If he died, the last chance for peace between the humans and Xadia would have been gone!"

"So you let them kill Dad instead?" she accused.

"Your father wouldn't have died if he wasn't so hell-bent on gaining power that he was willing to kill a baby dragon!" Callum roared. Claudia stepped back in shock at these words. Callum had never used that kind of voice with her before. "Listen to me, Claudia. You should have known that something was wrong with Viren the moment he decided to turn the human armies into monsters. Even Soren was smart enough to know that that was wrong, and yet you still clung to him. Do you even know what-"

"CALLUM LOOK OUT!" someone screamed behind her. Callum immediately jumped back as Aaravos' vessel shot in between them, coiling around her defensively and staring at Callum with those creepy silver eyes. A white-haired Moonshadow Elf, the same one that had accompanied Callum and Ezran to return the dragon prince to Xadia, vaulted over to Callum's side and directed her blades at Claudia and the dark creature. The look on her face was furious and defensive as she placed herself right between Aaravos' vessel and the prince. Callum immediately drew the _Fulminis_ rune in the air and held aloft the resulting ball of lightning threateningly. Claudia saw that he moved closer to the elf as if to protect her and his glare was directed at the creature that now surrounded her in its coils.

For a second, the four of them faced each other down. Then Claudia swung herself onto the creature's back and it whipped away almost faster than the the human and elf could blink.

"Wait!" she heard faintly behind them. But it didn't matter. They were already too far away.

* * *

Callum slammed his fist into a tree. They had managed to get all the fallen and the wounded to safety on the other side of the creek just in case the forest fire spread, but Claudia and that dark creature had managed to escape. Night was already falling, so they would have to camp out here for the night. Rayla walked up behind him from where he stood, facing the creek.

"How many did we lose?" he asked.

"Nine dead, four Sunfire Elves, five Earthblood," she answered. "And eight severely wounded. Five turned into those...shades."

"So counting the wounded and not counting you, me, or Nimbus, there's only 22 left of the 36 who accompanied us?" Callum wanted to punch the tree again.

Rayla wrapped her arms around his torso. "It's not your fault."

"There should've been more I could've done."

"Magic or no magic Callum, you're only one person," Rayla told him. "All of them knew the risks. And we may not have managed to catch Claudia or kill that thing, but we did do _something_. We found Claudia. We know what the creature is and what it can do, and you managed to hurt it. We may not have won here, but we didn't lose either."

Callum took a deep breath. "You're right, I'm sorry." He turned around and hugged his beloved Moonshadow Elf. When their grip loosened and they looked at each other, he couldn't help kissing her. And she couldn't help kissing him back. When their lips separated, he asked, "So what now?"

"Commander Keren insisted that we stop the mission here and get the injured back to safety. I guess once tonight's over, we go back to the Storm Spire and bring news of what we found to the dragon queen."

"Sure," he replied. "Let's get some blankets then and get a little sleep. We have about a two days' flight back to the Storm Spire tomorrow."

A little later, the two of them were snuggled together under a tree, listening to the sounds of the creek. The forest fire had already died out; despite the fact that it was still late summer, it had rained recently and there hadn't really been enough dry matter to allow the fire to spread too far. Rayla had laid her head on Callum's chest while he was looking up at the canopy with a melancholy look on his face.

Finally Rayla asked, "Callum? What's wrong?"

"Claudia," he answered slowly. "She told me that the elves killed her father."

Rayla raised her head. "So Viren is really dead?"

"I don't know," Callum admitted. "She was talking like he had died. But then she said, 'And you saved the one that killed him.'"

"Wait, what?" Rayla asked. "How would she know that?" She paused for a minute. "Do you think that creature told her?"

"I don't even know if it can talk, let alone if she can understand it," Callum objected. "But there's something else. Remember how Soren told me how he couldn't move at all after he fought Pyrrah?"

"I remember."

"Well, he said that Claudia had a white streak in her hair after she healed him. And now half of her hair is white."

Rayla gasped. "You don't think she brought him back from the dead?"

"Well, we don't know for sure. We do know that at the very least she tried."

* * *

Claudia's reunion with her father was cut short by Aaravos insisting that they put as much distance between them and the elves while they were still recovering from their failed attack. She had told her father about Callum, how he was using primal magic without a primal stone and had tried to get her to come with him. After he had finished telling her how glad he was that she had stayed, he'd remarked on how far gone Callum must be to be fighting alongside elves after they killed his father. Claudia winced when she remembered she'd told him something very similar.

Claudia turned over Callum's words to her in her head.

_He was going to kill the dragon prince! If he died, the last chance for peace between the humans and Xadia would have been gone!_

_You should have known that something was wrong with Viren the moment he decided to turn the human armies into monsters._

_Your father wouldn't have died if he wasn't so hell-bent on gaining power that he was willing to kill a baby dragon!_

_Do you even know what-_

Did she even know what? Callum had been cut off before he had been able to finish that sentence. Whatever it had been, it had something to do with her father, but that was all she knew. But even so, between her father and a childhood friend who now danced to the tunes of the elves and dragons, she didn't really have much of a choice. These thoughts continued to march through her mind as Aaravos took them farther and farther into the wilderness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Came out with this chapter sooner than I expected due to having a lot of inspiration for writing it. The scene where Claudia is running from Callum in particular is one that I've had in mind ever since I finished watching Season 3. Writing fight scenes is just so exhilirating, same with coming up with all the spells used in them.


	8. Conflicts, New and Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the skirmish in the Shiverglades comes to a stalemate, all parties retreat to sort through what was gained and what was lost. Aaravos leads the dark mages to a secret base he kept hidden from the rest of the world. Callum reaffirms his commitment to becoming a mage and resumes training with Ibis, this time with the help of the rest of the Dragonguard.

"You did well to do as much as you did," Zubeia complimented them. Callum, Rayla, and Nimbus had returned to the Storm Spire and brought news of the unsuccessful hunt. As they described the skirmish, Ibis looked concerned, Arda and the Sunfire Elves horrified, and Tychus and Peter a combination of shocked and furious.

"I can't say any of us expected this creature's bite to be capable of turning even the strongest of our soldiers into its servants. But now that we know about these shades, we will at least be able to come up with countermeasures for them."

"Why didn't you chase them down?" Tychus demanded. "You would have been able to catch them and slay them if you had!"

"Would they?" Ibis interjected before any of the trio could make an angry retort. "Callum would've almost exhausted his magic by that point, and they would have had to abandon the wounded to their fates. And there's no telling what other tricks they had up their sleeves. All things considered, they made the right choice. Retreat, and live to fight another day."

"There's something else, your majesty," Callum continued. "When I cornered Claudia, she told me that her dad was dead, but she also let slip that she knew that Rayla tackled him over the edge and that I saved her. But she _couldn't_ have known that. We were too high up for her to have seen us, and there was no one who could've told her except..."

"Her father, right?" Ibis asked.

"Yes," Callum admitted reluctantly. "Also, half of her hair had turned white. Soren told me that after she used a large amount of dark magic to heal him while he was paralyzed, only a streak of her hair turned white. So if _half_ of her hair is white now, it is likely she used a similar type of dark magic to try to bring Viren back."

Zubeia's growl shook the air. "Dark magic already costs much in order to be used. Let alone to heal someone who has been paralyzed so badly that they will never be able to move again, the cost for bringing someone back from the dead would be...massive. I can hardly think of a more unnatural, abominable act." She turned back to the trio. "Did you find any evidence that this Viren was with them?"

"No, my queen," Nimbus answered. "Unfortunately, we were unable to find a trace of that witch's father."

Zubeia nodded as she digested this information. "Then, either she failed and was forced to abandon any hope of restoring her father after the body started to decay, or she succeeded and when the hunting party tracked them down, her father ran ahead while she and the creature stayed behind to keep the hunting party from pursuing."

"Either way, they managed to escape, though not without some losses themselves," Rayla concluded, remembering the shades they'd managed to slay and the lightning bolt Callum had hit the creature with.

"The dark mages aside, do we even know what that creature was?" Fynn asked.

Zubeia frowned as she called forth some almost-forgotten memory. "From what you described, it is very similar to a creature that was once created by dark mages. They captured an ocean dragon and corrupted it with dark magic so it could not fly, but it was fast and deadly poisonous. We called that thing a wyrm."

"So this wyrm, do you think we've seen everything it can do?" Nimbus asked.

"I wouldn't bet on it," Ibis replied. "It is a creature of dark magic, and likely has more corruptive powers at its disposal than being able to turn elves into its shadowy servants."

"Well, we know where it is now," Callum said. "If we can't kill it, then maybe we can at least keep it contained."

"Good counsel indeed," Zubeia answered. "We will send word to the Earthblood lords and Tidebound tribes in the area to isolate the region that the wyrm and the dark mage escaped into. We can't let them corrupt any more of Xadia." She turned to Callum. "You should also send word to your brother in Katolis. King Ezran will need to know what we have found."

"Very well," he answered, bowing to her. "I'll be sure to tell him everything."

"Good. Then we are done here. Everyone be sure to train harder than ever. As long as a shadow remains on the horizon, we must stay vigilant."

* * *

Rayla vaulted over Tychus' head as he swung his blade at her, a long, curved sword that he wielded easily with both hands. Tychus' fighting style was like a soldier's, constantly moving in a single direction, relying on short, fast swipes of his sword to break down their opponent's defenses. Altogether, it wasn't that different from fighting Soren, though his strikes were faster and less powerful and he used the point of his weapon less. He fought more like a soldier than an assassin, probably the reason why he was more suited to being a Dragonguard.

The two of them were fairly evenly matched, despite her fellow Moonshadow Elf's greater height and reach, as her agility and quick thinking enabled her to keep dodging around any attempt he made at going on the offensive and strike where he left himself open. Even so, the two didn't spar together very often, the reason behind which was obviously how Tychus clearly disliked Rayla's relationship with Callum. Right now, Tychus still gazed at her with contempt and anger, despite how much he was still concentrating on the spar.

"Got something to say?" she asked him, changing her stance so she was holding her left blade backhandedly.

"I have nothing to say to _you_ ," he asserted, his stance still unmoving.

Rayla attacked again, the two of them exchanging blows for a couple seconds before Rayla vaulted away again, dodging a particularly dangerous cut. "I know you hate me because of Callum. Why is it so hard to accept?"

"Humans are liars and manipulators," he stated stubbornly. "I do not oppose the peace if it means the humans will stop bringing dark magic to Xadia, but anyone willing to _trust_ humans is a fool."

"I agree with some of that," Rayla admitted. "Some humans are evil, like the dark mage I tackled over the edge of the pinnacle. But in my experience, most humans are actually more like the sky mage who jumped after me."

Tychus grit his teeth. He still didn't want to admit what Callum had been willing to sacrifice for her. After all, it contradicted everything he'd ever been taught about humans. "You can't expect them to all be like him."

"I don't need them to," Rayla answered. "I just need him to be like him." They exchanged a few more blows before Rayla spoke again. "Besides, you can't expect all elves and dragons to be good." They continued to trade blows and back-and-forth remarks.

"I'm not that naive."

"Good. Humans are the same."

"They are nothing like us."

"Because we're born with magic and they're not?"

"Because they use dark magic!"

"And dark magic is the real enemy, not humans."

"Humans are the only ones abominable enough to use it."

Rayla finally stopped swinging her swords at him and kicked him in the stomach, knocking him sprawling on the ground. "I've had enough of you. If you're so predisposed to think all humans are evil, then why don't _you_ go kill that dark mage hiding in the Shiverglades?" There. It was out in the open.

Tychus scrambled to his feet. "How do you know he won't be swayed by her dark magic?"

"Believe me, she's tried! And failed! Multiple times!"

"Humans can't be trusted!"

"Neither can you!" Rayla finally shouted at him.

He blinked. "What?"

"We're done here." Rayla stormed away to look for Callum, leaving Tychus to contemplate her words.

Callum was at the top of the pinnacle, working on his rune drawing. In the month since the skirmish at the southern edge of the Shiverglades, Callum had been working even harder on his battle runes. One such technique he'd been working on was when he suddenly had to change from drawing one rune to another. For example, if a mage was halfway through drawing the rune for _Aspiro_ , it would be easy to change it into _Aspiro Frigis_ due to the similar structures of the runes, but it would be quite a bit harder to turn it into _Fulminis_ , though still not super difficult. On the contrary, the runes for _Fulminis_ and _Murum Aeris_ were almost totally incompatible, and a mage would more often than not have to wipe out the first rune and start over again in order to switch efficiently from one to the other.

Callum was concentrating incredibly hard, repeatedly starting to draw the _Fulminis_ rune, but then in the middle switching to a different spell. He went through half a dozen of these before repeating the cycle, hopefully cementing his various options in his mind. Ibis regularly commended Callum on his abilities for picking up spells quickly, due in part to his inherent talent for drawing and his photographic memory. But Callum's means of fighting in battle were limited by the fact that his physical attributes were not well suited for combat. He couldn't work well trying to rely on reacting to his surroundings, so he had to think ahead and prepare for every situation. In fact, the only reason he'd been able to block Claudia's ambush back during the skirmish with the dark wyrm was because he'd already been preparing to draw the rune for _Murum Aeris_ in case any more of the elves were caught by surprise by a sudden charge.

Finally, Callum completed his repetitions, dropped his arms, and slumped forward with a sigh. Rayla walked up right behind him and looked down at the top of his head. "You doing okay?"

Callum looked up at her. "Not bad I guess. It's been getting a bit easier for me to switch between spells at a moment's notice, but it's probably going to be a while before I can actually pull it off in a real situation."

Rayla sat down next to him. "Still not going to try sparring with anyone?"

"Nah, I don't think I'm ready for that. How did your sparring session go?" Rayla looked away, any semblance of good mood draining from her face. "Oh. Tychus again?"

"Yeah."

Callum pulled her in for a hug. "You don't have to force yourself to get his approval. I don't care what he thinks about us."

Rayla let out her breath. "Thanks, Callum."

* * *

Ezran looked out at his country from the balcony, taking in the sunset. He'd just concluded a meeting with the ambassadors from the other human kingdoms, who were still so vehemently against a human-elven alliance that if they still had their armies, they would almost certainly try to wage war. The Neolandian ambassador in particular was almost foaming at the mouth with rage when Ezran refused to break up the peace talks. The worst any of them could probably do was make it harder for Katolis and Duren, Katolis' only ally in the matter, to obtain goods from their countries, but that could also end up backfiring because they in turn relied on Katolian and Durenese goods. There truly was no rest for the weary.

"Ezran?" Soren called from the door. "Your supper's here."

"In a minute, Soren," Ezran called back. He took a long look back at the setting sun before walking back to his room under the already fading twilight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates are probably going to slow down from here on, as the initial exhiliration of writing this has worn off a little. I may also have difficulty coming up with ideas for certain scenes, so bear with me please. On a lighter note, the next chapter will feature a timeskip, so we'll se a lot of new changes then.


	9. Dark Strike

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dark mage makes an attempt on Callum and Rayla's lives at the Storm Spire. Ibis teaches Callum a new tracking spell to find out who it was.

It was a late night for Callum. It had been almost four months now since the Shiverglades Skirmish, and he still couldn't shake the sensation that he wasn't learning magic fast enough. After all, Claudia and the wyrm and most likely Viren as well were still out there at the northernmost reaches of Xadia, hidden away where no elf was able to find them. More concerning at the moment though was the threat of the three human kingdoms that refused to cooperate with his brother with the human-elven alliance.

"Callum," Rayla called to him from the stairs. She'd just come up to the pinnacle, probably to bring him to bed.

"I'll be down in a minute, Rayla," he told her. "I just...I need a little time to think."

Rayla walked over and sat next to him. "Talk to me."

Callum smirked at her. "Getting better at figuring out when I need some big feelings time?"

Rayla smirked back. "Well, I've had most of a year to figure it out."

Callum gave her one last smile before looking back at the horizon. "I can't help thinking that Ez needs me back in Katolis. The other human kingdoms are only getting less cooperative with the idea of the human-elven alliance. They can't do a whole lot to Katolis, but it's still making things really hard for Ez."

"Maybe when we visit for the winter holidays in a week, we'll be able to give him some help?" Rayla suggested.

"We probably could visit Katolis for a while before I finish my magic training, help Ez out with-what is that?"

Rayla looked out at where he was pointing. A dark spot had appeared in the fading twilight and was getting closer. As Rayla stood up and squinted at the dark object, her blood suddenly ran cold as she instinctively suspected dark magic. "Callum," she said, the fear in her voice conveying what she wanted him to do.

" _Ventus Convexum,_ " Callum chanted, channeling the air around them into a protective dome that covered the pinnacle. The protective shield was even thicker than the air walls he'd used in the skirmish, thanks to additional practice and being at the Sky Nexus, despite that the spell covered a much wider area. The object shot toward the shield, suddenly slamming into it and bouncing back, floating in place just long enough for Rayla to see that it was a dagger shrouded in smoke and a black oily substance that reeked of dark magic.

The knife slammed aganst the barrier again, pressing its point into the compressed air. It was starting to poke through. Rayla unsheathed her blades and stood ready to deflect the weapon as Callum, thinking as fast as he could, started drawing another rune. The dagger shot through the barrier straight at Rayla. Sidestepping quickly, she slashed at the knife, knocking it flying into the side of the dome. The weapon checked its momentum and shot straight at Callum before Rayla could blink.

" _Caeli Carpe!_ "

A stream of focused air shot from Callum's outstretched hand and enveloped the dagger, halting it in midair. Rayla pounced, striking it with both of her blades and pinning it to the ground. It trembled in place, trying to get free, so Rayla stepped on it as well, giving Callum time to complete his next spell.

" _Aeris Alligatae!_ " Callum directed his finger straight at the writhing weapon, and another stream of air encompassed the dagger. Releasing the grabbing spell, he focused all his magic on this one, creating a compressed sheathe around the dagger made purely of wind. When it was done, the knife finally stopped moving and Callum let his hand fall, panting. Rayla carefully lifted her foot, then her blades to make sure it had really stopped trying to kill them before she finally put her swords away and ran over to Callum.

"Callum! Are you alright?" she asked, helping him up.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he reassured her. "Just had to use a bit more magic than I expected."

The two of them looked down at the dagger. The black mist that had shrouded it before had been compressed to a hair-thin coating by the air sheath that Callum had coated it with. Its surface under the double coating bore repulsive tendrils of oily black and purple, and the edge of the straight, needle-pointed blade was notched where Rayla's sword had struck it. Despite the barrier restraining it, the weapon still reeked of dark magic.

Rayla retrieved a hankerchief and gingerly used it to cover the weapon as she picked it up. "We should take this to Zubeia."

* * *

Zubeia's reaction to their report was very similar to her reaction to the news that Rayla had been Ghosted. When Rayla had finished, the dragon queen's eyes had begun to glow, and her jaws started to spark with electricity, she was so angry. Ibis had to remind her to stay calm. The other members of the Dragonguard were also present, but they weren't saying much, mostly out of respect for the queen's anger. After a couple moments, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

"Thank you for telling me about this matter," Zubeia told them. "If I had lost you, it would have been almost as devastating as when I lost my mate and my egg almost a year ago." She took another deep breath to calm herself down. "What do you intend to do now that you have foiled this plot?"

"We should probably find out who sent this dagger first," Rayla answered. "Wherever its origin lies, it came from the west, so it's unlikely that it came from Claudia."

"I don't think she would be able to find it in herself to send something like that after me anyway," Callum noted.

"Yes," Rayla continued, "So it is most likely that it was sent by a dark mage from one of the human kingdoms."

"The question though is where?" Ibis asked.

Everyone in the room looked down at the dagger, which lay on a small table in the middle of the hall. The blade was simple and straight, double-edged and needle-pointed. The hilt was unadorned, circular pommel and crescent shaped crossguard, both black, and with a leather-wrapped handle. It was the kind of knife that any common soldier might own in one of the human armies, so it was unlikely that any sort of leeway would be made in using the dagger itself to track the assassin.

"Does some sort of tracking spell exist that would allow us to follow the dark magic back to its source?" Callum asked.

"Such a spell does exist for the sky arcanum," Ibis replied. "It is not as powerful as the star arcanum variant though, so if you are going to use it, better to do so as soon as possible while the magic is still fresh."

"I don't think it's a good idea to get going while it's dark out," Rayla insisted. "Especially when the moon's still only just starting to wax."

"Tomorrow morning at the latest then," Ibis told them. "Any longer than that, and it is likely that the magic will fail altogether. As it is, if you have to travel to the far end of the continent, I doubt that this spell will lead you all the way, even if it is going to have to be cast from the pinnacle, where you captured the dagger used for the spell."

"Very well, master," Callum told him. "First thing in the morning, we'll be heading back to the human kingdoms."

* * *

Ibis had sent a shadowhawk arrow ahead to tell Ezran the news, so the next morning, it was just Callum, Rayla, Ibis, and Zubeia atop the pinnacle as the sun rose on a partly cloudy day. Callum and Rayla had packed for the trip, while Ibis and Zubeia were present to oversee the spell and say goodbye.

"Once you've used the spell, crush the sky pearl to replenish your magic before you take off," Ibis was saying to Callum. "Better to use it now than to run out of magic halfway to the human kingdoms."

"I'll be careful," Callum promised.

"You'd better be," Ibis said sternly. "Who's going to teach other humans primal magic if you don't come back?"

Callum laughed.

Zubeia was addressing Rayla. "If you can find whoever is responsible for this, I would greatly appreciate if you could bring him to me before he meets justice, just so I can deliver a bit of my own admonishment before he faces justice in the human lands."

"I'll put in a request, but no promises," Rayla told her.

"Rayla, are you ready to go?" Callum asked.

"Yeah. Let's be off."

Callum took a deep breath and pulled the dagger out of his pack, still encased in its air sheath. Holding it aloft, he began to draw. The spell he was casting was trickier than most of the spells he used, requiring two runes instead of one, but Callum had successfully performed Mage Wings, which used three runes, after only seeing it done twice. Callum effortlessly drew a pair of runes in the air and chanted the spell.

" _Vena Retrogradae!_ "

A current of wind swirled around the dagger, picking up flecks of the smoke from the air-sheathed dark weapon. Spiraling upward, the current spun into a trail of mist, stretching off to the west. Working quickly, Callum stuffed the dagger back into his pack, brought out the sky pearl, crushed it, and chanted, " _Manus, Pluma, Volantus!_ " Immediately, his arms morphed into wings. Rayla threw her arms around his shoulders, casting one last farewell back at his mentor and the dragon queen, and then they were away.

* * *

It was almost nightfall when Ezran noticed it. A bird made of white vapor flying through the sky, straight for Katolis castle. The boy king stepped back as the mist hawk dove out of the sky and struck the balcony before him. The mist dissolved, leaving behind a white magical arrow with a message tied to the shaft. Soren ran forward from the doorway.

"What's that? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Soren," Ezran told the Crownguard. He crouched down next to the arrow, pulled it from the stone, and slid the little scroll off of the bindings that secured it to the shaft. Handing the arrow to Soren, Ezran unrolled the message and started to read.

_King Ezran of Katolis,_

_This Shadowhawk should reach you by nightfall three nights before the half moon. If that is so, then know that around twenty-four hours ago, an assassination attempt was made on your brother, Prince Callum, and his partner, the Moonshadow Elf Rayla._

_The attempt was not made through orthodox means. Whoever performed this unspeakable act used dark magic to enchant a dagger and caused it to fly all the way to the Storm Spire, with the reasoning that to perform the deed, it did not rely on a mortal assassin who could be killed or captured, and it would be incredibly hard to see coming. Fortunately, because Callum and Rayla were at the pinnacle of the Storm Spire at the time the dagger arrived, they saw it coming and were able to shield themselves and capture the dagger before either of them could be injured by it._

_By the time this reaches you, Callum and Rayla ought to be well on their way to the human kingdoms, following a spell that enables them to track down the place where the magic was cast. It is uncertain where it originated from exactly, but as long as the assassin is still at large, be warned that there is danger to yourself as well. Beware anyone around you who may or may not be related to dark magic._

_Should the spell come your way, make sure to find and mark the spot where it touches down. My regards to your high council and my thanks again to you for assisting in bringing my son home to me._

_Zubeia, Queen of the Dragons_

Ezran handed the letter to Soren with a shaking hand, leaned over onto the railing and let out a breath that he'd been holding in since he'd read the word _assassination_.

"Holy shit," Soren whispered, still reading through it. "At least it probably wasn't Claudia."

Ezran looked up. "No," he agreed. "It was someone from Katolis."

"How do you know?" Soren asked, looking up from the letter.

Ezran pointed up at the sky. A trail of mist was curving through the air above the castle. It dropped down much as the shadowhawk had done, hung over Katolis castle for a moment, and then spiraled down into the courtyard, finally touching the earth. Ezran's stomach dropped as he realized what had happened. Someone in Katolis castle had tried to kill his brother and best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Take your best guess at who did it! Then tell me in the comments if you dare!


	10. Katolis Courtyard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayla, Callum, and Ezran search for the culprit of the assassination attempt on Callum and Rayla. With the help of a certain moon mage.

It was already dark out by the time Callum and Rayla made it across the Breach. The trajectory of the mist trail had been fairly straight, but by the time Callum finally agreed that they had to stop and rest, it had already faded. The spell Callum had used back at the Storm Spire was intended to retrace the trajectory of a given magic over a shorter distance, and hadn't been designed to cover a distance equivalent to half the length of the entire continent. So it was that they reluctantly camped out for the night.

The next day, Callum was still quite tired, despite having had the better part of a year to develop his upper body for flying, and while he was certainly much more muscular now, his upper body strength and the sky magic he wielded could still only carry him so far, especially with a passenger. Fortunately, the trail was almost entirely straight, and even though Callum couldn't cast the spell again because it would lead him back to the Storm Spire before it continued on to the point of origin, they still had a fairly straightforward idea of where the spell had been leading them. Unfortunately, Callum had flown this way before, and his worst fears were confirmed when Katolis Castle came into view after another day of flying.

Rayla moved one of her hands to touch his shoulder. He looked up at her, and she gave him a look that said, _We'll deal with whatever comes our way._ Callum nodded to her in response and banked toward the courtyard, where Ezran was just running outside, eyes trained on the sky.

"Soren saw you coming," Ezran told them as they landed. "Callum, we need to talk."

"Yeah, we do," Callum agreed, dispelling his mage wings. "Did you see a trail of mist come this way?"

"It landed in the courtyard," Ezran revealed. The pit of Callum's stomach dropped like a stone. "We'll talk inside."

Once they were in the privacy of Ezran's study, he and Opeli recounted what had happened since the tracking spell had landed in the courtyard. "We had the entire castle closed down once we were able to put two and two together," Opeli told them. "But what do we do now that we know where the spell was cast? We can go around the castle and look for any traces of dark magic, but there's no guarantee that it will lead us to the assassin."

Callum groaned and laid his head in his hands. "If only I had a moon primal stone or a moon opal; I could cast _Historia Viventum_ and find out who did it."

Opeli looked confused. "Historia what?"

"It's a moon magic spell," Callum explained. "I did it once before with a moon opal after watching Lujanne perform it at the Moon Nexus-"

"That's it! Lujanne!" Ezran exclaimed. "We could send Lujanne a message, ask her to help us find out who sent that dagger!"

"Great idea!" Rayla agreed. "How long until we can get her over here?"

"If we send the message immediately, it will reach the Moon Nexus by tomorrow morning," Opeli replied.

"Which means she'd arrive tomorrow evening?" Callum wondered.

"Most likely," Rayla confirmed. "To give her a little time to rest before doing the spell, we should probably plan to have it done in the evening two nights from now. Also fits because the half moon is coming up."

"I'll have the Crow Master send the message to the Cursed Caldera," Opeli said.

"Do it," Ezran agreed. "I'd like to catch up with Callum and Rayla."

"Very well," she said with a respectful bow. "Just be sure you're there for dinner." She left the room quietly.

The silence was deafening. Callum started to say, "Ezran, I-"

Ezran crashed into his brother, threw his arms around him and started sobbing. Caught by surprise, Callum only stood there for a second with his arms raised. He looked helplessly at Rayla, who gave him a look that said, _Just hug him back already!_ Callum knelt down around Ezran and enveloped him in his embrace. Soon after, Rayla also joined in. "It's okay, Ezran," Callum whispered. "We're alright. It's okay." 

They held each other like that for a while.

* * *

Twenty-four hours later, the three of them were standing outside the castle gate, waiting for the telltale signs of Lujanne and Phoe-Phoe's arrival. The Crownguard and several other agents of the Order of the Broken Chains were still combing the castle from top to bottom, searching for the culprit. They had found nothing. In the meantime, Lords Forsyth and Rogan had been even more begrudging than usual to allow an elf into the castle, despite how well things had turned out at the coronation. Callum had his suspicions concerning them, but he didn't have any idea what, if anything, was going on with the two of them.

The half moon lit up with a spiraling circle of moon magic, slowly fading until Phoe-Phoe was visible, dropping out of the sky toward the drawbridge of the castle. But when the moon phoenix landed, something was different about her passenger. They were much shorter and accompanied by a three-legged wolf.

"Hey everyone!" Ellis said in her usual happy-go-lucky manner, hopping down from Phoe-Phoe next to Ava, who had already dismounted herself. The three-legged wolf shook herself all over, clearly not having enjoyed the flight as much as Ellis had. Nevertheless, she still hummed appreciatively when her human climbed onto her back and rubbed her fuzzy head.

"Ellis?" Rayla asked.

"It's good to see you, but where's Lujanne?" Ezran wondered.

"She would've come, but I wanted to be the one to do it," Ellis explained. "After all, it's going to be my first time doing a spell for real!"

Everyone was silent for a moment while they tried to comprehend this. Then Callum said in a shocked voice, "You connected to the moon arcanum!?"

"Right in one!" she beamed.

"When was this?" Rayla beamed back.

"About three weeks ago, I finally made the breakthrough!" Ellis said excitedly. "Callum's story on how he connected all the pieces was _super_ helpful, too. How in the world did you manage to connect to the sky in only a week?"

Callum grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Got lucky I guess?"

"Oh come on!" Rayla told him. "You two are _only_ the first two human mages in recorded history! Of _course_ you just 'got lucky'!"

Callum, Ezran, Rayla, and Ellis all started laughing. Even Opeli cracked a smile. When the laughter started to die down, she ventured, "Are you up for performing the spell tonight, or would it be better to let you rest and perform the spell tomorrow evening?"

Ellis leaned back on Ava and stretched her arms and legs. "Oh, wow, yeah, I'm _really_ sore right now."

"Flying all day will do that to you," Callum admitted, rolling his shoulder and wincing.

"Yeah, probably not the best idea to do it right away, much as I want to," Ellis told them. "Right now, I kind of just want to eat something. And stretch my legs." She hopped off of Ava and took a few practice steps. "Ow, yeah, I've really got to stretch my legs."

"Come on in," Ezran invited. "We haven't had dinner yet, so you're welcome to eat with us."

"I'd love that!" Ellis replied.

Lords Forsyth and Rogan were waiting in the courtyard, next to the doors leading into the main hall. "This is Lujanne?" Lord Rogan asked condescendingly as they approached.

"Nope!" Ellis told him cheerily, climbing back onto Ava to better look him in the eyes. "I'm Ellis, and I'm kind of like Lujanne's apprentice."

Lord Forsyth scoffed. "Really? A child?"

"Ooh! Sounds like you don't believe I can do magic!" Ellis challenged. "You want me to prove it?"

"Feel free to show off," Ezran told her.

"You may notice that my wolf here, Ava, only has three legs," she continued, patting her best friend. Ava looked up at her and woofed.

"Yes, she does," Lord Forsyth admitted. His eyes were more wary now.

"Well, check this out." Ellis leaned back, placing her hands flat on Ava's back and closing her eyes. As she began to chant in a low voice, the waxing moon seemed to grow just a bit brighter in the sky, and its light seemed to stream down toward the wolf and gather around the stump of its amputated leg. The glow swirled around, elongated, and solidified into a new leg. Ellis leaned forward, clearly tired from having used such a complex spell. "Believe me now?" she challenged.

"I stand corrected," Lord Forsyth admitted, bowing to her.

"Alright, that's enough," Opeli said firmly. "It's about time we had dinner."

On the walk to the dining hall, Callum asked, "That was a complex spell. When did you have Lujanne teach you that?"

"Actually, it was one of the first spells I had her teach me," Ellis admitted. "I wanted to be able to give Ava a new illusion leg whenever I want. I can't get it to stay for much longer than a few hours though, but it's great for proving that I can actually do magic now. I've also learned how to create lights, make people look like trees or stones, replay images of past events, and turn invisible. That last one's a lot of fun."

"All in just three weeks?" Callum asked. "Three weeks after I learned the sky arcanum, Ibis was already drilling a bunch of different wind-based spells into my head."

"To be fair, for two of those weeks, you were still trekking through Xadia trying to bring the dragon prince back to his mom," Rayla noted.

Dinner wasn't a super lavish affair, but it was still in the middle of a fancy dining hall with the King of Katolis and his entire council. Ellis wasn't fazed by this in the slightest though, as she took a seat next to Rayla and continued chatting away with her and the royal brothers while Ava munched on a steak on the floor a little ways away.

"I'm surprised that someone would try to assassinate you two," Ellis was saying. "You'd think they'd know better."

"Oh yeah?" Rayla inquired.

"Seriously, you two are like the perfect combination of magic and swordfighting. Between the two of you, there's hardly anything you can't handle. Remember that giant leech on the Cursed Caldera?"

"But that was an illusion. Plus, we had you and Ezran," Callum remarked.

"Yeah, but that was back when Rayla could only use one hand and you only knew two spells," Ellis countered. "Now, I bet either of you could easily take a real monster just like that."

"Well, you're not wrong," Rayla admitted. "And what about you? You know any cool fighting tricks now that you can use moon magic?"

"Not really," Ellis admitted. "I asked Lujanne about it once, but she told me that most moon magic is subtle and complex, and not really that suited for fighting opponents directly. There are a few spells that she told me about, but I haven't learned any of them yet. But that's fine. I don't really care for fighting anyway." She scarfed down the last of her plate, snagged a jelly tart and started munching on it. "So what about you, Callum? What sorts of magic have you been learning recently?"

"Ibis has been teaching me how to switch from one spell to another in the middle of drawing the rune," he replied. "That's been going pretty well. I've also been getting quite a bit better at drawing runes with my feet mid-flight. I can do it consistently now, but I still can't do it with the same power as when I'm not trying to maintain my wings at the same time."

"That's odd," Ellis noted. "Lujanne hasn't really been teaching me any tricks when it comes to the casting of the magic."

"Maybe it's because of the nature of the arcanums," Callum theorized. "Moon magic is more about trickery and concealment, whereas sky magic is more freeform and adaptive. It probably led to changes in how their respective mages learned to use magic."

"Are you getting anything from this?" Rayla asked Ezran.

"I just think it's fun to watch my brother geek out," he said cheekily, munching on a jelly tart of his own.

Rayla gave her boyfriend a sidelong glance with a mischievous grin. He grinned back at her a little sheepishly. Her gaze shifted, and he followed it to Lords Rogan and Forsyth, who occupied the seats across the table from her and Ellis. They were not talking, eating slowly, and with impressive poker faces, especially under Opeli's watchful gaze. Callum smirked as he realized that his side of the table, on Ezran's right, was entirely made up of people connected to an arcanum, while their side, on Ezran's left, was entirely made up of people without magic. And then there was Ezran in the middle, right at the head of the table. Callum resisted the urge to let his smirk turn into a snicker. Ezran's ability to communicate with animals was far wierder than any magic.

* * *

"You got this?" Callum asked.

"Piece of cake," Ellis told him. "Simple rune, simple scenario, no need to worry at all. And just for you, I'll try to make the reveal encompass as much time and area as I can."

"That's what I'm worried about," Callum admitted. "I don't want you to exhaust yourself. Plus, isn't this the first time you've done a spell this big away from the moon nexus?"

"Well, yes," Ellis admitted. "But it should be fine. It won't have to last that long, and as I said before, it's not a hard spell. You did it first time with a moon opal after all."

"Yeah, but that's-"

"Callum," Rayla interrupted. "She understands that you're trying to be careful. So stop arguing and just let her use the spell."

Callum took a deep breath. "You're right, I got carried away." He turned to Ellis. "Alright, anytime you're ready."

"Right, here goes," Ellis proclaimed, cracking her knuckles and clearing her throat. Reaching out a hand, she traced the glowing circular rune in the air in front of her.

" _Historia Viventum._ "

The rune faded with a sound like wind when the words were spoken. A silent second passed. Then several etherial figures shrouded in a slight cyan glow appeared; the nightly detachment of guards moving to their stations as the previous shift turned in for the night. A few seconds of watching them passed, some cracking jokes, talking about games, or simply longing for bed as they moved around the courtyard. After a while, the courtyard was empty. Then a man stepped out into the open from a dark corner of the yard. He was cloaked and his face was hidden, but he moved with a purpose.

The man stopped in the middle of the courtyard and knelt down. He set down a tiny bowl containing what appeared to be two hairs. Reaching within his cloak, he pulled out a knife in one hand and another object in his other. Holding the two out in front of himself, he snapped his fingers to set the hairs in the bowl aflame, crushed the object in the hand that did not hold the dagger, and spoke in those haunting backwards words that went hand in hand with dark magic.

" **Snoitanimoba eht ot htaed laed dna ylf** **.** "

Smoke from the burned hairs and goo from the crushed object wrapped around the knife in his hand. He released the weapon and it shot into the sky. Then he turned and left through a side door in the courtyard. The images faded and the spell ended.

"Is that it?" Rayla asked.

"We can keep going," Ellis said, running over to the side door. Rayla and Callum ran after her.

"Corvus, Soren, stay with me," Ezran ordered. "The rest of you, wait for my return."

"As you command," Opeli relented, bowing. Ezran ran after Callum, Rayla, and Ellis.

Ellis had already activated the spell once Ezran had caught up. They followed the man through the hall on the other side of the door into the winding passages of the keep.

Ezran started to say, "Wait, we're heading toward..."

Removing his cloak, the man walked into a more decorated hall, opened one of the doors, and went inside.

"That's the Neolandian ambassador's chamber!" Ezran said. "He left right after lunch, the day before I got the queen's letter."

"Then it's not being used right now?" Rayla asked. Ezran shook his head in confirmation, and the little group walked inside. The spectral form of the Neolandian ambassador sat on his bed, talking to himself with his eyes closed.

 _It is done._ He paused. _I am certain that I was not seen._ Another pause. _I doubt that this will have any chance of failure. Once they are dead, the act of sparking a war between humans and Xadia again will be simple._ Your _hand was not detected in the attacks on the other human monarchs, was it?_ Another pause and then a laugh. _Ahling is weak. I care nothing for him. All I wish is to see Xadia destroyed, and loyal, pureblood humans reign over those_ monsters _once and for all._ His voice had taken a furious edge. _They are ready to take command of the next stages of the plan once the news arrives. A mere boy cannot be a king after all, and no true human would ever consort with elves and dragons._ There was another pause as the ambassador composed himself. _Yes, that is all. I will be returning to Neolandia tomorrow. I will await your next instructions._ The man opened his eyes and stood up from the bed. Then the spell faded.

Ellis slumped over a little, breathing hard. "That...took more out of me than I expected," she gasped.

"So we know who sent that dagger," Callum said slowly.

Rayla continued, "And that they weren't acting alone."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sike! Who thought it would be Lujanne? Hahahaha!
> 
> The main thing from this episode that I predict will happen in Season 4 (I wept tears of joy when I learned it was coming) is Viren, Claudia, and Aaravos being forced to manipulate things from the background rather than the forefront, hoping to spark further conflict between Xadia and the human kingdoms.
> 
> Of course, we all know that Viren was on the other end of the line (even if our protagonists don't) but who do you think the other conspirators the Neolandian ambassador mentioned were? Tell me in the comments if you dare!


	11. Conspiracies and Connections

The next day, action had to be taken. "Send word to the Neolandian capital that their ambassador attempted to assassinate my brother," Ezran was saying to Marcos. "They won't want to comply, but we don't have a choice other than to confront them on the matter. Hopefully we can capture him alive and get him to tell us who the other conspirators he mentioned were."

Another guard entered the throne room. "Your majesty," he announced, "word has just come in from one of the border towns. The Neolandian ambassador and his entire retinue have been found dead close to the border. It is suspected that he was murdered. By elves."

"What?" Rayla demanded in a shocked tone. "How? Why?"

"We don't know," the guard answered. "But according to the report, several shadowy figures with horns were spotted in the area before the ambassador's retinue was attacked. The horses were cut from the carriage, the guards were slain by arrows, and the ambassador himself was dragged out of the carriage and brutally stabbed multiple times."

Rayla contemplated this. "This still doesn't sound right. Why would elves want to get into the human kingdoms and kill a random ambassador?"

"According to the report, he's not the only one," the guard continued. "There have also been reports in the area of villagers going missing, especially children."

Ellis gasped. "Oh no..."

Ezran told the guard, "Send for Captain Corvus at once." The guard bowed and left and Ezran turned to Callum, Rayla, and Ellis. "You guys should go investigate this. Take Corvus and some other members of the Order of the Broken Chains with you."

"Are you quite sure that is a good idea?" Lord Forsyth asked.

"This is a serious matter," Ezran clarified. "They're the most skilled we have."

"With all due respect, I find it to be a bad idea to send an elf to investigate the elves' doings."

"What, are you scared I'm going to interfere with the evidence?" Rayla asked snarkily.

"That is exactly what I am afraid of," Lord Forsyth said firmly. "If you go along with this venture, it is likely that even if you do not interfere to protect your people, others may think that you did if you come back with evidence contrary to what has already been found."

Rayla paused at this statement, but Callum intervened. "Is that so?" he demanded, taking a few steps forward. His hand was already crackling with residual static electricity.

"Callum!" Ezran told him.

Callum took a deep breath and calmed himself. "I still don't like your attitude toward Rayla," he told Lord Forsyth.

"Callum, I hate to admit it, but he's right," Rayla said reluctantly. "I'll be safe here, and I can help keep Ezran safe. You take Ellis and Corvus to the scene of the attack and find out what happened there. Just be careful. If the people who did it are still in that area, they may decide to target you too."

"Alright," Callum told her, laying a hand on her shoulder. "I'll promise you to be careful as long as you promise me the same thing."

"I promise Callum," she told him, putting her hand on top of his. "Now get going. The sooner you get there, the better."

Corvus entered the throne room. "You summoned me, my king?" he stated, bowing before the throne.

"I did," Ezran answered. "The Neolandian ambassador has been assassinated. This may or may not be linked with his attempted assassination of Callum and Rayla a few days ago. Callum, Ellis, yourself, and a few other members of the Order of your choosing will head immediately to the site and try to find out what you can."

"I will prepare horses at once," Corvus stated.

"Don't bother preparing one for me," Callum told him. "I can fly now, and I'd likely fall off a horse anyway."

"As you say, Prince Callum," Corvus replied. He left the room after bowing again to Ezran.

* * *

Rayla watched Callum, Ellis, and Corvus' squad leave the castle from a second story window. She couldn't help feeling a twinge of loneliness as Callum flew away.

"He'll be fine," Ezran promised. "He's practically a full-fledged sky mage now."

"I know," she told him. "I know. It's just...*sigh* This is the first time since his birthday that he's gone somewhere without me."

"Hey," Ezran interrupted her melancholy thoughts. "He'll be back. Besides, it's not like there's nothing to do around here. What do you say about training with some of the soldiers?"

Rayla looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "How are they in comparison to Soren?"

"Soren's at the high end of the scale."

Rayla grinned mischievously. "Couldn't hurt to give it a go."

"Great! I'll show you down to the courtyard. Maybe you can convince Soren to let me in on it too!"

* * *

Natalia didn't really care for managing the family inn in her father's place. It wasn't too hard to get everyone what they wanted, and many of the people were interesting and friendly. It was on rowdy nights like this that it really became bothersome though. Almost all of the patrons in the tavern area were locals; their village was a bit out-of-the-way and few traders came to the area, thus virtually everyone in the village knew each other. It was also hard to ignore that she was young, pretty, (by her village's standards anyway) and single. So it was obvious what kind of attention she was receiving from drunk patrons at this hour of the evening.

Her attention was diverted when the door opened and a party of five walked in. The man who opened the door and the man and woman who followed behind wore trackers' garb and looked toughened and hardy. The leader carried a chain with a heavy grappling hook on his belt, while the other two carried short bows and knives. The last two members of the party were a teenage boy wearing a dark red sleevless shirt despite the cold weather with strange runes painted in white down his bare arms and a young village girl appearing no older than twelve.

"Is it necessary to stop here Pr-" the tracker with the chain was saying to the teenage boy.

"Don't call me that in public," the teen interrupted. "I'm not here to cause an uproar. We're just getting some food and a place to stay for the night, and we'll be on our way to the site in the morning."

"Thanks for calling it back there," the girl told him. "I am not used to riding a horse for so long, even if it's just like riding Ava."

The other trackers selected one of the few free tables and the girl joined them as the teen and the man with the chain walked up to the bar. "We're going to need food and beds for five for one night," the man told her. "Can you arrange it?"

"Easily," she answered him, taking out a notepad and starting to jot down his requests while simultaneously taking note of everyone in the party. "Three trackers, a village girl, and a rich boy, hm? You're an interesting group. Shall I make it a two-bed room for the ladies and a three-bed room for the men?"

"That'll do," the boy told her politely. She looked up at him and accidentally looked him in the eyes. He was quite handsome. She quickly looked back to her notes before that thought could escalate. The man looked at him like he wanted to object. "What?" the boy asked him when he noticed. "Sharing a bedroom with two people is better than sharing a cave with two people."

"True," the man replied flatly.

Wait, a cave? Since when did an obviously rich boy ever sleep in a _cave?_

The boy caught her curious look and waved it off. "Don't mind me, it's nothing," he said hastily.

"Mm hmm." She gave him a suspicious look and continued, "Would you gentlemen like menus?"

The man started to say, "Yes, if you don't min-"

"Hey, Natalia!" came a voice from the door. Natalia groaned inwardly. Derrick was about five years older than her, tall, strong, and as loud and obnoxious as his voice. And he thought that Natalia belonged to him despite how many times she'd openly rejected him. He waltzed past the bar patrons talking in hushed tones and pointing at the two of them and leaned over the countertop at her. "Take my order? Hmmm?" He flashed a smile that made her stomach turn. He wasn't actually that bad-looking, but his attitude was the worst.

"Once I'm finished with these travelers," she said curtly, turning back to the pair. "Sorry for the interruption. Here's today's menu. The drinks are on the ba-"

"Natalia!" Derrick interrupted. "Aren't you gonna serve me?"

"If you keep interrupting me, it'll only take longer!" she snapped. "I'm almost done with them, so wait your-"

"Blah, blah, blah," he interrupted again, reaching over the counter and grabbing her by the arm. "You're my girl, so don't you make me wait for anything."

"Excuse me, sir," the man with the chain interrupted him. "You're clearly distressing her, so release her."

"What?" Derrick asked challengingly. "She's my girl. I get to do what I-"

"I'm not your possession, Derrick!" Natalia yanked her arm out of his grasp.

"I've had it!" Derrick suddenly yelled, leaning out over the counter and grabbing at her.

"Come on, stop that! You're making a scene and she clearly doesn't-!" the boy started to say, laying a hand on his shoulder and trying to push him back off the counter.

"Don't touch me!" Derrick suddenly snarled, throwing the boy's hand off him and rounding on the pair. The man with the chain pushed the boy up against the counter as Derrick adopted a fighting stance and suddenly stepped forward. The trackers and the girl at the back of the room shot to their feet and moved to assist as Derrick swung at the tracker with the chain, inadvertently turning his back to the teen with the rune-painted arms as he did so. As the tracker deflected Derrick's incoming attack, something happened that Natalia would never forget for the rest of her life.

The boy's finger came up and moved subtly through the air, leaving behind a blue glow as he traced a tiny rune in the air in a split second. The boy jabbed two fingers through the rune into Derrick's back, directly between his shoulders. There was a blue flash so quick that Natalia almost missed it. Derrick arched his back and cried out in pain and surprise before slowly sagging to the floor. A slight burning smell traced through the air. Smoke trailed from the boy's fingers. He subtly lifted them to his lips and blew it away.

"He'll be fine," he stated. "Just dump him outside. Hopefully he's learned his lesson."

The man with the chain nodded, picked up the still-groaning Derrick and moved toward the door. His companions returned to their seats and the other patrons turned back to their meals and drinks. The boy turned back to her. "Sorry about that. Old friend of yours?"

Natalia snapped herself out of her shock and scoffed. "Friend. Yeah, right." There was an awkward pause. "Was that magic?" she suddenly asked under her breath.

"What?" he was the one caught by surprise now. "Uh, wait, you saw that?"

"I think I was the only one who did," Natalia told him. "So was it?"

"Well...yeah," he admitted. "Please don't tell anyone though. We don't want to cause even more of an uproar."

She smirked at him. "Sure, no sweat." The tracker was coming back. "Your names?" she asked in her best business voice.

"He's Corvus," the boy said, motioning to the tracker. "I'm Callum."

She nodded, jotted down a couple last notes, handed them a menu, and hurried off to make sure the rooms were prepared.

* * *

Evin had had some experience with tracking. After all, he had hunted for his family during the winters when he wasn't carving furniture. But he was still surprised he'd been considered good enough to join the elite trackers when he'd brought his family to Katolis to look for work and ended up enlisting with the Order of the Broken Chains. Four months of training on the side later, and he was practically called an expert in the practice. So it was surely no surprise that he had been chosen to accompany the Captain and Prince Callum on a secret, super important mission, right?

Well, it was still a surprise to him how far he'd come since moving to Katolis. And even more surprising was Prince Callum's use of _magic_. _Real_ magic, not dark magic. And somehow no one was surprised. And then he'd learned that the little girl who was also accompanying them also used real magic. He had to stop himself from staring off into space in disbelief.

He looked over at the prince, who was sitting on his bed drawing different kinds of runes in the air, sometimes in the middle of drawing one switching to a different one, and eventually wiping them away. The air was filled with different sensations as he drew each one, sometimes static, sometimes a breath of wind, a couple of times even a slight chill.

Finally, Evin could no longer contain his curiosity. "Prince Callum?" he ventured. When the prince looked up, he continued. "If you don't mind me asking, your highness, how did you first come to learn magic?"

The prince considered him for a second. "Evin, right?" he asked.

"That's right, your highness," he replied nervously.

The prince gave him the briefest of smiles. "Just Callum please. It was a bit unusual, the way I learned magic. I wasn't expected to, you see. Princes are supposed to learn things like swordfighting and horseback riding, not magic. Unfortunately, it was no secret that I was terrible at pretty much everything except art. Then my brother and I found the egg of the Dragon Prince, which had been stolen by King Harrow's high mage, Lord Viren."

"Wasn't there an elf with you?" Evin asked.

"Yeah, Rayla," Callum confirmed. "You saw her briefly before we left I believe." Evin did indeed remember the white-haired Moonshadow Elf the prince had shared a long and tender look with before they'd left. "Anyway, the three of us were down there in a secret chamber with the egg of the Dragon Prince when the high mage's daughter Claudia found us. When we tried to get out of there with the egg, Claudia tried to attack Rayla with a lightning spell using a sky primal stone, a stone that contained all the sky magic you could want. I threw off her aim, took the stone, and ran after Rayla and Ezran.

"Next, Claudia sent a pair of smoke wolves to chase us. Rayla couldn't fight them because her swords passed right through them. So I tried using the primal stone. All I had to go on were times when I'd seen Claudia use it for an occasional spell, but I was able to reproduce a wind breath spell she'd shown me before to blow away the smoke wolves." Callum raised his hand and traced a sky-blue rune in the air. " _Aspiro._ " He spoke the word to release the spell and blew through the rune, sending a strong gust of wind around the room.

"It was incredible," the prince continued. "I was finally good at something useful after all those years of being bad at everything. It was easy, it felt _right_ , like nothing really had for me before, even art. I mean, I had to practice for years to get good at drawing, but magic was so _easy_ that it was practically as natural as breathing. But...it had to end sometime. Eventually, there was an accident with the dragon egg, and we had to hatch it before it died. Sky dragons can only be born in the eye of a storm though, and the only one nearby was contained in the primal stone I had. I smashed the stone, the egg hatched, and I could no longer do magic." Callum sighed at the memory.

"But...you can do magic," Evin said, confused.

"The thing is," Callum explained, "humans can't do magic naturally. Elves and dragons and magic creatures are born with something called an Arcanum. It's something like a piece of knowledge about one of the six primal sources that's strong enough to allow someone to use the magic of that primal source. Humans aren't born with this Arcanum, so we aren't able to naturally use magic. It's the main reason why humans turned to dark magic long ago. Primal stones are really rare after all. But I wasn't about to give up. After all, just because I wasn't born with an Arcanum didn't mean I couldn't make my own connection. So I tried. I contemplated everything I knew about the sky arcanum, even went out in the middle of a storm once, but I still needed a breakthrough in order to properly make the connection.

"Then...things got a bit dark. Something bad happened and I decided to take Claudia's book of dark magic and use one of the spells to save Rayla. It worked, but it didn't leave me unscathed. I was immediately drained of energy and grew more and more delirious until I finally passed out." He paused for a moment as the memories washed through his mind. "My dreams were...not pleasant. I was confronted by an evil version of myself telling me to accept dark magic, that it was my destiny to do the only kind of magic that humans could do. I saw King Harrow, telling me I was free to make my own fate and giving me the will to reject dark magic. The rest of it was a jumbled mess of ships and sails and wind and storms as my unconsciousness went through everything I'd learned about the sky arcanum. Finally, I saw my mom, telling me to breathe and to know it with my head, hand, and heart. And when I woke up, I understood the Sky Arcanum."

Evin was dumbfounded by this last part of the story. He hadn't expected the process to have been so sudden and...well, messy. "Sounds difficult," he said slowly.

"It was," Callum admitted. "Hard to say whether Ellis had a harder time connecting to the Moon Arcanum though. She took at least three months to learn her Arcanum while I only took a week, but at least she wasn't forced to use dark magic."

"Do you think...anyone can learn to do what you did?" he ventured nervously.

Callum looked up and smirked at him. "Why? You hoping I'll teach you?"

"I'd be lying if I said I thought the idea of learning magic wasn't appealing," Evin replied, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, to start, you have to figure out which of the six primal sources you want to connect to," Callum explained. "The primal sources are the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the sky, and the ocean. You have to really _understand_ the source in order to form a connection. And not just with your head. With all of yourself. Once you understand the primal source with all of yourself, you will be able to forge the connection."

"I understand," Evin answered. "You've given me a lot to think about, Prince Callum."

* * *

Natalia stepped away from the door in surprise. _Prince_ Callum? He was really the stepson of King Harrow who'd come back from a mission to Xadia able to do sky magic without a primal stone? And now that she'd been listening to his story ever since he'd explained to the tracker he'd been talking to that humans aren't born with magic, she realized she'd also heard his instruction on how to make her own connection.

She stopped halfway back down the hall. If she forged a connection, then what? She didn't know any spells that would make it useful. What use would magic be to her? But the more she thought about it, the more appealing magic sounded. If she had magic, maybe she could keep the inn warm in the cold winter months, perhaps she could get water without having to trek all the way out to the well, and she might even be able to get rid of Derrick's unwanted advances entirely.

As Natalia finished the last of her chores around the inn and went to bed, she went over everything she'd heard from the prince in her head, and wrote as much of it down as she could.

Sun, moon, stars, earth, sky, and ocean...


	12. Shades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callum's party reaches the site of the Neolandian ambassador's murder. Two attacks occur simultaneously.

Callum landed on the roadside next to the horses and dispelled his mage wings. "This is the place?"

The one who answered was their guide from the local town, who had a hard time wrenching his gaze away from the flying prince. "Y-yes, that's right. Had to remove some of the bodies myself. There's probably still bloodstains on the flagstones if you look close enough."

"There is," Corvus confirmed without even dismounting.

"So now all we have to do is sit back and let me use my magic, right?" Ellis asked from her position in front of Corvus. 

"Right," Callum confirmed. "I don't think we need to wait for the moon to rise this time, do we?"

"Shouldn't be too much trouble," Ellis assured him as Corvus dismounted and helped her down as well. "We should probably stand back a little from the site just so we can see everything."

"Sure," Callum agreed, walking over to stand by Corvus and motioning for their guide to do the same. Ellis cracked her knuckles, drew the circular rune in the air, and spoke the trigger phrase:

" _Historia Viventum._ "

She activated the spell with a snap of her fingers. The rune vanished and the area was engulfed in twilight. A spectral carriage and guards passed through them from behind, much to the surprise of the guide, who jumped so high, he almost hit his head on a tree branch.

When the carriage reached the spot the guide had shown them earlier, arrows suddenly flew out of the trees on the side of the road, killing half of the guards before they even had time to react. A pair of figures darted forward at the front of the carriage, one cutting down the driver with inhuman speed, the other slashing the horses free and sending them screaming off down the road. 

The guide gasped as he beheld the figure. It looked like an elf, with backswept horns and a lithe form, but it wasn't a normal elf. Even as a spectre, the shadowy aura around it was clearly visible.

Corvus started, "Prince Callum, is that-?"

"Yes," he answered grimly. "Shades."

And then several figures leapt from the undergrowth.

* * *

"He's not bad at actually swinging his sword, but he really needs to watch out for what's around him," Rayla was telling Ezran.

"Yeah, isn't it bad form to get your sword stuck in a tree?" Ezran asked.

"It's the third time it's happened, too. How do you even _do_ that with a wooden practice sword?"

"Ask him, not me. Now what's for lunch? Do we have more jelly tarts?"

"Are jelly tarts the only thing you think about when it comes to food?"

"What? No! That's like saying the only food you think about is moonberry surprise, whatever that is. Even jelly tarts would get tiresome if I ate nothing else."

"Yeah, we can't have that. Growing tired of jelly tarts would be the greatest travesty of them all."

"Exactly!"

As the two of them were walking, they suddenly happened upon Lords Forsyth and Rogan, accompanied by a detachment of their guards. Rayla directed Ezran's attention to the two of them as they approached and he greeted them formally. "Lord Forsyth, Lord Rogan. Is there a problem?"

"There is a matter that requires your urgent attention, your majesty," Lord Forsyth spoke smoothly. "If you and the Lady Rayla would accompany us, we can have the matter resolved as soon as possible."

"Lead the way," Ezran replied easily.

"As you wish," Lord Forsyth drawled, bowing. He led the way back down the hall alongside Lord Rogan with Ezran and Rayla following just behind and the guards on either side of the four of them. Rayla eyed the guards suspiciously. Six of them, armed with spears and swords and effectively having them surrounded. None of them bore the insignia of the Order of the Broken Chains. Every last one of Rayla's instincts screamed that something was wrong.

When the group entered the main hall, the first thing that Rayla noticed was that it was empty save for a few more guards. Again, none of them were of the Order. Rayla scanned the room warily, distrustful of the two lords' intentions.

The next moment, a halberd was swung at her neck without warning. Rayla ducked the weapon and yanked Ezran back towards the open door, unsheathing her butterfly blades as the detachment of guards enclosed them in a semicircle.

Lord Forsyth clicked his tongue. "Pity. But then again, since when is anything ever that easy?" He snapped his fingers and the guards closed in.

* * *

The illusory images of the past were instantly extinguished as a dozen shades leapt out of the undergrowth and attacked the investigating party. Corvus stepped forward immediately, pushing Callum and Ellis behind him and engaging the foremost of the attackers with his chain. The other two trackers immediately drew their bows and began shooting, and their guide yelped, cursed, and drew the sword at his belt. Callum stumbled back, but quickly recovered and started casting spells.

" _Murum Aeris!_ "

A wall of wind sprang up between the party and the nine shades that had not yet managed to close the distance. Two of them even slammed into it as he drew his next rune.

" _Ieiunium Ventus!_ "

Wind spiraled around Callum, Ellis, Corvus, the guide, and the other two trackers, lingering around them as a kind of aura. Corvus bashed the grappling hook on his chain into the shade he was battling and moved to support the guide. The other two trackers had already felled four of the shades, leaving only seven who were coming at them from either side of the wind wall. Corvus, the trackers, and the guide all moved to deal with the remaining shades with their blades, moving far faster than the shades had anticipated and cutting down three more of them before the rest knew what had happened. Finally, as the remaining four locked blades with the defending trackers, Callum finished his final spell.

" _Fulminis Multa!_ "

Four balls of lightning sparked into existence in the air in front of Callum. Gesturing with his arms to the fighting groups, he willed the lightning to target the shades. Four bolts of lightning arced over the heads of the defending trackers and struck the shades as they fought, dealing enough damage that even if they weren't slain outright, they would at least be hurt badly enough that one of the defenders could eliminate them easily.

Callum let out the breath he'd been holding and dropped to his hands and knees. If it hadn't been for Corvus' fast reflexes, he would've been dead before they even had a chance to fight back. Their guide wasn't in much better condition, having dropped his sword and fallen to his knees, eyes wide, shocked, and unblinking. Corvus and his trackers were fortunately less affected, already sheathing their weapons and checking to see if anyone was hurt.

"Are you alright, Prince Callum?" a worried Corvus asked.

"I'm fine, fine," he reassured him. "Just a little winded." He finally caught his breath and accepted the hand that the tracker offered him. "I didn't expect that at all. Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Their guide finally spoke, "These are elves? They're even worse than the stories say."

"No," Callum said flatly. His voice was uncharacteristically harsh and the guide looked at him fearfully. "These are not elves. Elves aren't that different from you or me. These used to be elves, but they're not anymore. They've been corrupted by dark magic and turned into something far worse. These are _shades_. Puppets of a creature born of dark magic called a wyrm. I've fought them before, about three months ago back in Xadia."

"You have?" Corvus asked.

"Yeah. If the wyrm gets a chance to bite you, you turn into one of those... _things_. You no longer recognize anyone you once knew and can only obey what the wyrm wants you to do. At least, if the wyrm bites an elf, they turn into a shade. I'm not sure if a human would turn into one if it bites them, and I don't want to find out."

The guide swallowed. "Right. Shades, wyrm. Not elves. Got it."

"But what would they be doing here?" Corvus asked.

Callum crouched down next to one of the slain shades. The almost fluid miasma around it had faded, leaving behind an elven corpse with eyes as black as ink and gross-looking purple veins branching across his exposed skin. "The shades are only puppets," he said slowly. "They're here because someone sent them here. So either the wyrm itself, or..." he trailed off, not willing to finish the thought.

"Do you think that they were sent here to make it look like the elves were invading the human kingdoms?" Corvus asked.

"Probably," Callum admitted. "I'm not sure why, but if this keeps up..." Callum cleared his head and stood up. "We need to get back to the castle. Now."

"Yes, Prince Callum," Corvus replied. He turned to the guide. "Would you mind heading back to your village alone and bringing some of your neighbors to collect the bodies? Make sure you explain everything to them, including that these shades were created by dark magic and not the elves."

"Yes sir, I can do that," the man replied.

Ellis shook herself out of her shock. "Okay, can we please get out of here?"

* * *

"I guess we found out who the Neolandian ambassador was conspiring with," Rayla remarked as the guards closed in. "Ezran, run. I'll catch up."

One of the guards jabbed low with his halberd, probably hoping to hit her legs and immobilize her. Rayla jumped up, stepped on the weapon, and vaulted over the heads of the guards forming a semicircle around them. Ezran was off like a shot as they turned their attention to her. Rayla danced around the numerous foes, striking at their spears when they tried to get too close and eventually doing enough damage to the hafts that she even managed to lop the heads off a couple of their lances. The guards with broken lances merely dropped them and drew swords.

"Two of you, go after the boy king," Forsyth ordered. "Can't let him get away and blab that we attacked him for no reason." The two guards whose spears she'd destroyed dashed away down the hall.

Rayla's mind flashed through her options. She'd meant to keep them occupied for as long as possible while Ezran got away. But the longer she fought, the more her foes would force her to tire. Stamina wasn't really something an assassin was trained in. She had to go after those guards and find Ezran. Unfortunately, the guards had her backed away from the door. She needed a way to get to Ezran...

Rayla suddenly turned around and grabbed Lords Forsyth and Rogan before they even had a chance to react. She placed her blades at their throats, causing everyone in the room to come to a stop. "You two are traitors," she spat at the two lords. "In this situation, I would be perfectly justified in taking your heads."

"You wouldn't!" Rogan stammered, obviously terrified.

Forsyth only scoffed. "Go ahead and do it then."

"You really do think elves are bloodthirsty monsters, don't you?" Rayla retorted. "Well, here's some news for you: I've never taken a single life. And I'm not about to start with you two if it means making people think that." With that, she removed her blades from their throats and bashed them in the heads with their hilts. When the two lords crumpled, she charged at the stunned guards again, vaulting over their heads for a second time and racing down the hallway after Ezran.

Before long, she was hopelessly lost, unable to find anyone, let alone Ezran. Rayla had no idea why there was no one around except for the guards loyal to Rogan and Forsyth. Finally, she was about to start considering calling for the boy when she heard his voice hiss her name, "Rayla!"

"Ez?" she hissed back. "Where are you?"

"Down here," he whispered. She looked at the floor up against the wall. A section of it had been moved away, revealing a secret passage in the floor. Rayla looked down into it to make sure Ezran wasn't in the way and dropped down. Ezran pushed the secret door back into place, leaving them in a long tunnel lit by the light from a series of crystal conclaves in the walls and of course, Bait.

"Are you hurt?" he asked nervously.

Rayla scoffed. "Those idiots couldn't even touch me."

"Good," he told her. "I'd hate to have to explain that to Callum." His tone turned more worried. "What happened? Why did they suddenly attack you?"

"Not sure," she answered. "Maybe to get rid of me while Callum's away? But why you too?"

Ezran swallowed. "I don't know, but I think they want to destroy the peace with Xadia."

"Probably," Rayla admitted. "We need to get out of here and find someone we can trust. Once we've found someone from the crownguard, we need to go find Callum and Corvus." She grit her teeth as she remembered it had been Forsyth who'd suggested she stay behind. "If they made me stay behind so they could get rid of me like this, they probably tried to do something to Callum too."

"Good idea. This way," Ezran told her, running off down the hall. After running for a short ways, the tunnel ended at another secret door and they emerged from behind a painting after Rayla checked if the coast was clear. "Soren should be in the barracks' mess hall with the rest of the Crownguards. They're all in the Order, they should be trustworthy."

"Right. Let's go," Rayla replied.

The two of them dashed for the door to the barracks' mess and almost ran into a guard in the middle of saying, "...has kidnapped the king-" The guard spun around and, catching sight of Rayla, drew his sword. Rayla decked him almost before the weapon left its sheathe. He was neither a Crownguard nor a member of the Order. Soren and the others were staring at the Rayla and Ezran in shock.

"Rayla! King Ezran!" Marcos suddenly called out, rising from his food.

"What's going on?" Soren asked. He had already risen to talk to the guard Rayla had just decked.

"Forsyth and Rogan are traitors," Rayla said bluntly.

"They had a bunch of their guards attack me and Rayla," Ezran explained. "Rayla held them off while I got away and then came and found me. We need to get away and find Callum and Corvus. Something bad might've happened to them too."

"Can't we just arrest them?" Soren asked.

Rayla heard the tramp of boots outside. "I don't think that's going to be easy," she told them, taking a peek out the door. A platoon of Forsyth and Rogan's soldiers had marched into the castle, no doubt to both aid in the search for her and Ezran and to outnumber them if they tried to fight. There were only a dozen members to the Crownguard, so there was no chance of them being able to fight their way past them to arrest Forsyth and Rogan.

"Yeah, no way we're going to be able to fight past all of them," Soren agreed with her as he joined her by the door.

"I'll leave a message with the Order guild in the city," Marcos stated, rising from the table. "The rest of us can sneak out into the woods while I catch up."

"We'll head for the Banther Lodge," Ezran replied. "If they find us there, we head for the Cursed Caldera. And once we have a plan, we can come back and arrest Forsyth and Rogan." No one bothered to correct either his or Rayla's omissions of the title of lord.

There was a tramp of boots outside as the soldiers moved out of the courtyard. The group watched them go and then snuck out of the barracks and headed for the gate. The guards saw them coming and readied their pikes when they saw Rayla, but Ezran stepped in front of her. The two of them exchanged a glance and then parted, returning to their posts and acting like nothing had happened. As the group ran out the open gate, Rayla noticed the Broken Link insignia on their shoulders.

Once they were out in the woods and Marcos had gone to send his message, Ezran looked back at the castle. "You okay?" Rayla asked him.

"I can't believe I've already had to flee the castle twice in one year," he sighed.

Rayla laid a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, I got banished from my home because I couldn't kill someone. It'll be fine. We're okay, we'll just come back and take it back." Ezran looked at her with those wide, sad eyes for a moment. Rayla suddenly remembered Callum telling her once that he'd had to grow up saying no to Ezran's 'puppy dog eyes'. Ezran nodded and took her hand and the two of them retreated into the trees.


	13. Day of Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callum, Corvus, and Ellis seek out Ezran, Rayla, and the Crownguard after receiving Marcos' message, and upon their reunion, they meet with unexpected aid.

"Prince Callum! Captain Corvus!" one of the city guards called out as the party approached the gate.

Callum landed as Corvus addressed him. "Yes, we're back. Has everything been well while we've been gone?"

The guard grimaced. "About that, Lieutenant Marcos sent a message through the Order headquarters."

Corvus waited a second before prompting the man further. "And?"

The guard swallowed and continued nervously, "'The lords are traitors, meet up with the king and the Crownguard at the Banther Lodge.' That's all, sir."

Corvus looked back at the party. Callum was staring at him, openmouthed. "Something has to have happened," he immediately concluded.

"At least the king is alright," Corvus reassured him, but Callum was already pondering something.

"Ellis," he suddenly spoke up, "can you cover me with an illusion to make me harder to see?"

"Well, yes," she admitted, "but it won't last much longer than a half hour at most."

"Prince Callum, what are you doing?" Corvus demanded.

"Sorry, Corvus," Callum told the tracker, "but I have to find out what's going on in the castle. If Ez is at the Banther Lodge and Rayla's not, then if I get the information I need now, I won't have to waste time gathering it later in order to go look for her." When Corvus tried to protest, Callum overrode him saying, "It's fine, Corvus. I'll be right behind you. I'll only stay as long as the illusion is active and I'll catch up once it wears off. Flying is faster than going overland, especially through the woods."

Corvus sighed and relented. "Fine. But if Rayla is at the Lodge with King Ezran and you're late catching up, you're explaining it to her, not me."

"Deal," Callum agreed. "See you when I get back." He nodded to Ellis, who immediately traced a rune in the air.

" _Mystica Avis._ "

The illusion gave him the shape of a small bird, hiding his actual body. He still looked down and saw himself, albeit with wings because he'd neglected to dispel them, but everyone else was looking down at his feet, so it had apparently worked. He turned around and leapt into the sky once more, headed for the castle. Once he crossed over the moat and cleared the main wall, he looked down into the courtyard. A platoon of soldiers were drilling there under the eyes of a uniformed lieutenant and some sour-looking standard castle guards. Callum noticed that the crest on the officer's uniform belonged to house Forsyth.

Callum flew around the castle to a series of large windows that looked into the throne room and peered inside. Lords Forsyth and Rogan were arguing with Opeli in front of the empty throne. Opeli was livid. " _How dare you?!_ Such a suggestion is utterly preposterous on multiple levels! Even if King Ezran has been kidnapped by Lady Rayla, how do you explain the entirety of the Crownguard disappearing from the castle with them? And bringing your own soldiers to the castle! If I thought you had it in you to do something so underhanded, I'd think you were trying to stage a coup!"

Callum would've frozen in midair if he hadn't had to keep flapping. "We suspected she would try something like this while his brother was gone, but we were too late to prevent her escape," Lord Forsyth said smoothly. "Very likely the Crownguard disappeared to go after them to try and stop her, but she is an elf, after all. I am not surprised that they haven't returned yet."

"Liar!" Opeli accused. "I don't know what game you're playing, Forsyth, but the Lady Rayla has shown far more courtesy to the throne of Katolis than either of you have in the last six months, and she hasn't even been living here! She's had plenty of opportunities to deal damage to Katolis if she'd wanted to, and if King Ezran and Prince Callum's story is to be believed, she would rather lose her hand in the slowest, most agonizing way possible than deal him any harm! Mark my words, I will get to the bottom of this!" She stormed out of the hall before either of them could respond.

"She's far too loyal to Ezran," Rogan told Forsyth. "We should get rid of her as soon as possible."

"I'd worry more about that elf," Forsyth countered, striding over to the throne and laying a hand on the armrest as he gazed at it almost longingly. "She's probably the most dangerous obstacle to our plans. The people haven't seen much of her, but they know that Prince Callum has been learning magic among the elves for the last few months and that he commonly brings a friend back to Katolis with him when he visits. We can't let her kind continue to charm the people."

"And Prince Callum? He's clearly just as dangerous. He can do _real_ magic."

Forsyth growled, "Callum...how I wish I could just watch him die." He turned to Rogan. "Sorry, old friend. I just _hate_ that boy. He goes off to Xadia and consorts with the enemies of humanity and comes back only a week out of every ten after learning some pretty new magic tricks and then he has the gall to act like he's _superior_ to us! Just because we happen to have his best interests in mind when we suggest he stop sullying his presence with that of some elvish floozy!"

"Aye, I agree with you there," Rogan admitted. "When I heard that King Ezran was going to be looking for peace, I didn't think he would stay as naive as he is for long. We definitely need to find someone else to take his place."

"Before we do that, we have to make sure that we get rid of anyone who still supports Ezran," Forsyth replied, having regained his composure. "Hopefully, Callum was killed by that trap our benefactor set for him at the site of the Neolandian ambassador's death. If he doesn't come back, we can go ahead and announce that he was killed by the elves and that the king was kidnapped. That will reignite the public's hatred of Xadia."

"After that, all we have to do is buy time until we've built up our power and our benefactor is ready to strike and then we can call on the rest of the Pentarchy to wipe out the Xadian threat once and for all," Rogan finished.

"Queen Aanya will be a problem," Forsyth mused. "Hopefully our benefactor can deal with her as well. I somehow doubt it seeing as he failed to do so last time. She won't really be able to protest if she's all alone though. Chances are, the elf will try to take the boy king to Duren to get their help in retaking the castle. We've brought in far too many soldiers for one elf and the Crownguard alone to take it back."

"Maybe we can use it as an excuse to conquer Duren then?" Rogan suggested.

"It matters little either way," Forsyth dismissed the matter. "First, we need to deal with Opeli."

Callum banked away from the window. He'd heard enough and the illusion would wear off soon. Rayla and Ezran were clearly together with the rest of the Crownguard, so Soren would be with them as well. He wanted to stay behind and warn Opeli, but he didn't have time to find her, even if he could still fly. He cursed the fact that he only knew how to use sky magic and flew towards the woods that concealed the Banther Lodge. After around another half hour of flying, the lodge came into view in front of him. He'd arrived just as Corvus' group was leaving the treeline, and Rayla was running out of the front door, scanning the sky. It didn't take long for her to spot him.

Callum spun into a nosedive toward the ground and flared out his wings at the last second, slowing down just enough to land clumsily on the ground only a little distance away from Rayla. The two of them surged forward once he regained his balance and crashed together into a tight embrace. They stayed like that for a few seconds before Rayla spoke.

"I'm glad you're okay," Rayla told him. They loosened their embrace so they could look each other in the eyes. "When Forsyth and Rogan chased us out of the castle, I was worried they'd set a trap for you and..."

"There was one," Callum admitted. "But thanks to Corvus, I'm fine. Not a scratch on me." He looked up at Corvus' group, who were dismounting near the stables and speaking with Ezran and Soren, who'd also just left the lodge. "We should probably get inside so we can plan our next move."

* * *

"It only sounded like they were throwing around ideas," Callum concluded, "but they were clearly the associates the Neolandian ambassador mentioned."

"But why would they try to target King Ezran as well?" Corvus asked. "They would be overthrown in a heartbeat if they hurt the king."

"Probably because they knew I wouldn't go along with anything they wanted me to do," Ezran said slowly.

"Good point," Rayla admitted. "So what now?"

"We could sneak into the castle using the secret passages," Ezran suggested.

"And do what?" Corvus asked frankly. "They pulled in too many soldiers for less than two dozen of us to fight. Even with Prince Callum's magic."

"Yeah, I agree," Callum admitted. "There was a decent amount of stormy air left over while we were up in the north, it allowed me to use some fairly strong magic. Mage wings is complex, but it doesn't actually use much sky magic. In weather this clear, I doubt I would be able to come up with a spell much stronger than _Aspiro_." He let out a frustrated sigh and slumped back in his chair. "If we had a storm to work with, I could easily come up with enough primal energy that we could take on Forsyth and Rogan's soldiers with just us, but like this...I miss that primal stone." He turned to Ellis. "I'm guessing there isn't any moon magic that would be very helpful in this situation?"

"Mostly just some really cool illusions," Ellis admitted. "I told you, Lujanne didn't teach me anything super fight-y."

They were all silent for a minute. Callum finally stood up, saying, "I'm going to go scout from the sky, make sure we weren't followed," and went out.

Once he was in the sky, he was alone with his thoughts. He had no idea what else he was supposed to do. He felt a bit bad for leaving everyone else behind, but he just had to get away for a while to clear his head. Unfortunately, his head was only getting more and more of a mess.

A sudden flash of movenent caught his eye as he worked his way in a wide ring around the Banther Lodge. A small line of horses seemed to be working their way towards them from the other direction as the town. Then his eyes widened as he just barely spotted a familiar figure at the head of the column. Callum folded his wings and swooped down in front of them before calling out in a jovial tone, "Aunt Amaya!"

The Katolian general looked up as Gren caught her attention and smiled at the sight of Callum fluttering above the treetops. She waved at him and he grinned back. Then he took on a serious tone as he addressed Gren. "Long story, but a lot's happened back at the castle. I'll lead you back to the Banther Lodge for now."

Gren was only halfway through conveying this to General Amaya when Callum swooped away and headed back to the Lodge. Amaya spurred her horse into a canter almost before Gren had finished and was after him as fast as was safe for her horse to go.


	14. Full Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan to retake Castle Katolis

"'Quite the predicament,'" Gren translated. "'Good thing I decided to bring a few extra soldiers with me, but I still doubt that will be enough.'" Amaya was clearly just as frustrated and probably even angrier than the rest of them about Forsyth and Rogan's coup.

"Maybe if you all were Moonshadow Elves," Rayla drawled sarcastically. "Then we could-" she suddenly cut off, her eyes widening. "The full moon."

"What?" Ezran asked, confused.

Then Ellis got her meaning and her eyes also widened. "You're right! The full moon! It's only a couple days away! We can use the full moon to boost my magic and sneak into the castle to capture the bad guys!"

"And it'll be the point where I'll be able to use my Moonshadow form!" Rayla added. "It's pretty disorienting, so it will take some getting used to, but, Ellis, do you think you can use a spell to apply it to a group?"

"Just a small one, I think," Ellis told her. "It was one of the last spells Lujanne taught me before I came down from the Moon Nexus. It's not easy for me even at night, but with a full moon, I should be able to cover a small group for at least a little while."

"I expect not all of us though?" Callum probed.

"No," she admitted.

Amaya started signing again and Gren translated, "'Wait, I'm not following this at all. She can do magic?'" Amaya pointed at Ellis.

"I connected to the Moon Arcanum a few weeks ago," Ellis told her. "Callum was a _big_ inspiration."

Amaya shook her head humorously and signed, _Look how far you've come, kid,_ to Callum. Then she addressed the rest of the group again. _If we have_ two _mages on our side, we'll have a chance at getting through. If she can really turn a small group invisible like a Moonshadow Elf, I should lead my soldiers up to the castle as a distraction once the full moon arrives. The stealth group can then sneak in and capture the traitors. That group should probably consist of the best of us. Probably Corvus and his two trackers since they're supposed to be with Callum anyway, so if we add in Rayla and Callum, it should probably go pretty well._

"Hold on," Callum protested. "Moon magic is strongest at the full moon, but I'm a sky mage. I need at least a bit of wind in order to pull off any substantial spells, and the wind around here is pretty much dead."

 _Trust me, it won't stay that way for long. There will almost definitely be at least a bit of wind coming down off the mountains by the time the full moon gets here, so even if it doesn't give us our first winter storm of the season, you'll probably have enough magic to help out at least a_ _bit._

Callum brightened. "Good. I'd hate to be useless again even with all the magic I've learned."

_Hang in there, kid._

* * *

That night, Callum was unable to sleep. He was sitting outside on the porch of the Lodge, gazing up at the night sky. The breeze was cool, but slow, and he could barely feel any magic in it. Ever since he'd connected to the Sky Arcanum, he could easily sense the magic in the air around him. It was always stronger the higher he was, or when the wind was faster or brought strong weather. But right now, he could hardly feel anything. The stars glimmered with that ancient watchfulness as always and the waxing moon cast its light down toward the earth, and yet he felt so little magic in everything around him. It was almost like that hunger he'd felt in his soul after he'd smashed the Primal Stone.

Callum reached into his pocket and fished out his last sky pearl. This one he'd found with Ibis when they'd been out flying one day. It wasn't quite as big as the one he'd used in order to make the flight to Katolis, but it still contained a substantial amount of sky energy. The trouble was, it could only be used once, and wasn't even close to as strong as the Primal Stone had been. At most, it could only give one a short burst of magic, but a Primal Stone would allow him to use all the sky magic he wanted.

Callum pocketed the sky pearl again with a sigh and looked back up at the sky. His forehead creased as a thought crossed his mind. Then he got back up and walked back inside. Maybe Ellis would be able to give him some sort of answer.

* * *

Once the sun had set, the full moon rose into the sky. As General Amaya and her detachment walked their horses across the bridge up to Castle Katolis, a smaller group just inside the woods was preparing a more secretive entrance.

" _Umbra Velo._ "

Ellis covered Corvus, Callum, Soren, Ezran, (who had vehemently insisted on going) and Corvus' trackers with her spell, giving them the same nearly-invisible effect as Rayla's own Moonshadow powers, though she also gained increased strength and speed from the use of them. Rayla was already in position, mentally urging them to hurry up. The rest of the Crownguard would be staying behind with Ellis to support Amaya's team if they had to.

The now shadow-veiled infiltration group gathered at the edge of the castle moat, just out of sight of the bridge. They could still hear Gren translating for Amaya in an angry tone from their position. Callum whispered the spell to turn his arms into wings. There was a decent level of wind coming down from the mountains, as Amaya had predicted, but Rayla was more focused on the moon. It never failed to make her feel unstoppable, even if moving around while she couldn't see herself or her weapons very well was difficult and disorienting.

Rayla wrapped her arms around Callum's neck and he took off as silently as he could, flying her over the wall behind the back of the sentry on patrol there. They landed behind a tree in the courtyard, out of sight of anyone who might see them. Rayla released her grip after giving Callum a quick kiss and he flew back over the wall to fetch the next member of their group. It took a few minutes for him to ferry everyone across, and by that point, Amaya's team was already being escorted inside. Amaya and Gren were led into the main hall by one of Forsyth's soldiers, while their detachment remained behind with the rest of Forsyth's men.

Once they were all over the wall, the small group followed Ezran into a hall off to the side of the courtyard, close to where Callum had landed them. Rayla moved in first and immediately had to knock out a guard who was just around the corner. He went down like a sack of potatoes. She might've hesitated if it had been a castle guard, but this one was another of Forsyth's men. None of them, to her knowledge, were even loyal to Ezran, let alone friendly to elves. Ezran still had a sad look on his face when they passed him though.

"Any idea how long this Moonshadow invisibility is going to last?" Soren whispered a little too loudly for comfort.

"No," Callum hissed back. "And be quiet!"

Rayla signaled for them to halt as a pair of guards walked past, muttering discontentedly. Both of them wore the Order's broken link insignia. Originally, Rayla intended to simply let them pass, but one of them spotted them before they passed the intersection. Both of them reached for their weapons, but the other spotted Ezran among them and put a hand on the other's arm, stopping her from drawing her sword. Rayla relaxed her battle stance as Ezran laid his own, almost invisible hand on her arm and confronted the two. He put a finger to his lips, wearing a determined expression.

The two guards nodded and continued down the way they'd been going before. Rayla let out a sigh of relief as they checked for anyone else and started moving past. One of them looked back just as Soren was crossing by, and he flashed him a thumbs up before ducking into the next hallway.

The throne room was guarded by no less than four soldiers. It wasn't exactly outside of expectations, but now they would have to wait. Gren's voice could be clearly heard on the other side of the door, as well as some quieter ones that no doubt belonged to Forsyth and Rogan.

* * *

"Where are my nephews, Forsyth?" Gren translated for General Amaya. "I was under the impression that Ezran at least would be here."

"You came here because you heard there was an assassination attempt on Prince Callum did you not?" Lord Forsyth asked. "He went out with the Captain of the Order of the Broken Chains and a little girl who can use moon magic to pursue the man who made the attempt, or rather to try and figure out if it was really elves who murdered him before he could cross the border out of Katolis. As for Ezran...I regret to inform you that he has been kidnapped. By the elven assassin that Prince Callum brought to the castle with him."

"You and I both know that that's a lie, Forsyth. And even if that were true, why would she wait until now to strike, and how did you manage to bring an entire company of your own soldiers to the castle at the same time and yet were still unable to prevent her escape?"

Rogan growled, "How are we to know what goes on in an elf's mind? She was probably waiting for an opportune moment when she could take him when we least expected."

 _Or maybe she was waiting for you two to make the first move,_ Amaya countered. The two lords froze. _I'm afraid I know all about how you attacked Rayla unprovoked and tried to kidnap King Ezran, then brought in your own soldiers to try and ensure that they wouldn't be able to escape the castle. I also know that Callum was right outside that window when you were discussing not only removing Opeli, but also that you had a benefactor who set a trap for him at the site of the Neolandian ambassador's murder._

Rogan spluttered, but Forsyth's eyes were like steel.

_I met with my nephews as I was arriving in Katolis. They are fortunately both safe and in the company of people who don't want to see them harmed. Including that elf that you claim kidnapped the king. Except, her story goes that it was actually your side that attempted murder and kidnapping._

"Traitor to humanity," Forsyth hissed. He snapped his fingers and the guards around the room leveled their pikes at the two of them.

Amaya pulled her shield off her back, still signing. "Yes," Gren translated, "you are."

* * *

A great crash echoed inside the throne room. Distracted, the guards jumped and looked around, likely thinking of opening the door and barging in. It was enough.

" _Ventus Circumitus!_ "

A powerful wind swept through the hall in front of the doors to the throne room, smashing into the guards and casting them against the walls. All of them dropped to the floor, groaning. Rayla and Soren burst into the throne room with the rest of the stealth team right behind them. Amaya and Gren were doing battle with six more guards in the center of the room, doing their best to avoid getting skewered. Rayla charged in to support Amaya, Soren moved to attack one of the soldiers assaulting Gren. Rayla heard Callum cry, " _Caeli Carpe!_ " as she ran, but paid it no mind.

Two of the guards Amaya was engaging were distracted by the stealth team's sudden entrance, but one tried to take advantage of the distraction to poke her spear past Amaya's shield. The human general deftly caught the weapon in the gap that ran down the middle of her shield and trapped it against the floor before finishing their fight with a hard strike to the helmet from the hilt of her sword.

In the meantime, Rayla had already spun past the jabbing polearm of her closest target, moving almost faster than he could see. In addition, she was using her Moonshadow powers, and she was practically unstoppable. Rayla slashed one of her blades at the soldier's polearm as she moved in, cutting it clean in half. She too finished off her opponent with a hilt strike to the head.

The last soldier just surrendered where he stood. He knew he had no chance against Katolis' battering ram of a general and a Moonshadow Elf assassin at the height of her power. Around the room, the battle was already wrapping up. One of the soldiers who'd been fighting Gren and Soren was down, the others were surrendering to Corvus and his trackers. The cloaking spell that Ellis had covered the stealth team with at the beginning of the mission was wearing off, each of the members one by one solidifying back into their natural forms. First Soren, then Corvus and one of his trackers, then Ezran, the other tracker, and finally Callum all faded back into view, leaving only Rayla still cloaked in the magic of the full moon.

Forsyth and Rogan were kneeling on the ground, restrained by Callum's enchantment. Ezran stepped forward. "I had hoped I could get you to see the truth eventually," he said. His voice was firm, but contained a hint of sadness. "That elves aren't monsters but people. Then you decided to try and murder Rayla. I'll have to consult Opeli and my brother, but you will have to be punished for this."

Forsyth grit his teeth as he struggled against the magic that restrained him. He finally managed to thrust his hand into his pocket, and when he did, he spoke in haunting, twisted words.

" **Yaw eht nepo.** "

When the man opened his eyes, they glowed purple. Forsyth's shadow spread out on the floor behind him, and then out of it rose a dozen armed shades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting more complicated, and who knows who's going to come out on top! Stay tuned for more magic and wonder!


	15. The Moon Arcanum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You know what? Just read it. A summary could never do it justice.

_Two days ago_

"Well, that's sort of how it is," Ellis was saying. "It's like understanding the relationship between how you see things and what they actually are."

"Yeah, that's about how Lujanne explained it," Callum answered.

"You thinking of trying to connect to the Moon Arcanum too, you showoff?" she asked cheekily.

"I'm at least going to try," he told her. "If I can manage it before the full moon, I'll be of some help even if there isn't enough wind for me to use sky magic."

"In that case, learn this spell," Ellis replied, cracking her knuckles. She drew a silvery rune in the air, let it hover for a moment, and then chanted, " _Diruo Mendacium._ " A rush of energy surged throughout the room, but it didn't seem to do anything.

"What did that do?" he asked.

"If there had been any illusions around, it would have dispelled them," she answered. "Weaker ones, anyway. I still can't use it to dispel one of Lujanne's illusion monsters, but it can disrupt a Moonshadow Elf's glamour."

"Handy," Callum remarked. "I'll just get to it then. Now that I know how making the connection works, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out."

* * *

So much for not being too hard to figure out.

Everything had been going so well. They had gotten into the castle without the alarm being raised, got into the throne room, and captured the two traitor lords with hardly a drop of bloodshed. Then Forsyth had used dark magic and summoned a dozen shades from his shadow. Just the two wind spells he'd used earlier had exhausted his magical reserves, especially the air grab spell, which was a tiring spell to use against struggling captives. He would need more access to the wind outside if he wanted to use any higher-tier magic, but his chances at doing so would be close to nil with all the new enemies.

He surveyed the dozen shades. Five of them were Sunfire, two Moonshadow, three Earthblood, and two Skywing. The miasma around them was much thicker than the miasma around the shades he and Corvus had fought at the site of the Neolandian ambassador's murder. That probably meant that they would be much stronger. Callum canceled the air grab spell and ran through all the wind spells he knew of in his head, trying to come up with one that would be able to open the windows and grant him greater access to his magic.

Forsyth and Rogan dropped to the ground. "Yes," Forsyth gasped, his eyes turning black. "Tremble before the might of my benefactor's shades! None of you will leave this room alive!"

The Moonshadow shades stepped up behind the two lords and looked down at them. Then their blades flashed. Forsyth and Rogan were no more. As everyone looked on in shock, the Moonshadow shades opened their mouths and unleashed a piercing, yet almost silent howl.

Pain. Shock. Fear. A rampant parade of negative emotions scattered across Callum's brain. He couldn't see. He couldn't hear. His senses of smell and taste were all over the place. A thousand hours seemed to pass in only a second. He was only dimly aware that he was on his hands and knees, helpless. He tried to move his body, but found he couldn't. The sensory overload was too powerful, he was going to die-

_But it's not real,_ came a small voice at the back of his head. He blinked slowly. Yes, it was real. He was actually feeling these things. _Is that just how it appears, or is it real?_ the voice asked. Callum tried to calm his thoughts. He was afraid? Yes, he was. But if fear conquered him, he was dead. He couldn't see or hear? Just an illusion created by that otherworldly howl. But even without these senses, he could still draw.

It took him only a second to find it, but it felt like forever. He could only understand how things appeared to him, not the reality beyond it. There was no such thing as the "real" world. There was only the one shaped by his perception. He reached out his hand and traced a rune. It was not one he had traced before, but it was incredibly powerful, partially thanks to the light of the full moon he knew was shining just outside the window.

" _Diruo Mendacium!_ "

A wave of energy washed outward around the throne room as his senses cleared and returned to normal. The full moon's light fell on Callum from outside the window, giving him strength. His spell had come just in time, as the shades were about to execute everyone else in the room. His finger moved in a flash as he summoned all the sky magic he had left in one last, desperate gamble.

" _Ventus Circumitus!_ "

A powerful gust of wind swept around the room, blowing out all the lights and smashing into the shades and pushing them back, giving everyone time to get back on their feet. Then he thrust his arms out to the sides, slamming the gust against the windows. The windows shattered as the air pressure was too great, and moonlight and wind freely flooded the throne room.

It was like he'd discovered the Sky Arcanum all over again. Every sensation in his body tingled as his mind opened once more to a new source of magic. He felt the moon like he'd never felt it before, its light falling on everything around him, adding new dimensions to everything he saw. And then the two layers of magic overlapped, forming connections he'd never known existed.

The shades were charging again. His friends were still disoriented from the howl, but they were on their feet and ready to fight. They moved to surround him and Ezran, stopping the shades in their tracks, but they were strong, too strong for them to beat, especially outnumbered almost two to one. The Moonshadow shades prepared to use the howl again, but Callum's spell hand had already finished drawing.

" _Tacet Tonitrua!_ "

The spell created a thunderclap right in four of the shades' ears, bursting their eardrums and momentarily stunning them. The distraction was enough for Rayla to drive one of her swords through one of them and Amaya to floor one of the ones that hadn't been hit by the spell with her shield. Gren, Corvus, and Soren were doing a decent job at staving off the others while Corvus' trackers pegged them with arrows, but unlike last time, they didn't seem to be having much effect. The three Earthblood shades in particular had some sort of rocklike armor that their arrows bounced off of entirely. Callum had to deal with them next.

" _Fulminis Insultura!_ "

Callum conjured a bolt of lightning and directed it at the Earthblood shades, causing it to arc between them until they collapsed on the floor. That left two Moonshadow shades with broken eardrums, three Sunfire shades, and two Skywing shades. The Skywing shades had used the wind and miasma around them to create dark wind blades that they now cast at Callum, hoping to stop his spellcraft, but they were stopped by an air wall. The archers' arrows shot right back and pegged them in the torsos, but the wounds were little more than distracting to the shades.

Rayla cried aloud as she suddenly leapt back. The Sunfire shades were channeling tongues of dark flame down their arms and weapons and had managed to burn Rayla. Amaya also hissed under her breath and leapt back as the dark fire came close to making her drop her sword. As the group slowly retreated, the shadows continued to close in. The only reason everyone was still alive was because of Callum's magic, but not everyone was unscathed. A couple of Forsyth's former men had been killed by the shades before he'd dispelled the effects of the howl, and Soren, Gren, and Rayla had all been wounded by the shades they fought.

Amaya suddenly charged forward into the Sunfire shades with her shield, slamming past them and barreling into the Skywing shades behind them. One of them was cut down by her sword as she barreled into them, but the other managed to strike at her shoulder with a wind blade before it was struck in the torso by two more arrows. Gren, Corvus, Soren, and Rayla took advantage of the confusion to focus their attacks on the faster Moonshadow shades, finally cutting them down before the Sunfire shades could react. Callum cast _Fulminis Insultura_ once more and finished off the Sunfire shades, and it was finally over.

Callum sagged to the ground, exhausted from his constant use of magic. Twelve shades, four of Forsyth's soldiers, and Forsyth and Rogan themselves had been killed, and almost everyone else in the room was injured in some capacity. Rayla dispelled her Moonshadow glamour and knelt down next to Callum. "You alright."

"Just tired," he assured her. "Using all that magic took a lot out of me."

"Yeah, I get that," she replied. "And was that moon magic you used to dispell the effects of that howl?"

He grinned weakly. "Yeah. It was."

"When the hell did you learn _that?_ "

"Ellis taught me the spell, but I wasn't able to connect to the Arcanum until the howl hit me."

Rayla could only ruefully shake her head. "You are so-"

She was cut off by the door slamming open and a company of Forsyth's soldiers entering the room. The captain stepped forward and immediately took stock of the situation, demanding, "What's going on? What happened here?"

"Lord Forsyth is dead!" one of the soldiers called out after rushing to the bodies.

"Sir! It's that elf!" another cried out. Immediately, the lot of them pointed their weapons in Rayla's direction.

"Touch her and you will regret it!" Callum shouted, getting to his feet. He was already recovering his magic, and now lighning arced across his fingers as he glared at Forsyth's soldiers.

"Enough, Callum!" Ezran rebuked him. He stepped forward and addressed the captain. "Order your men to stand down. Lord Forsyth and Lord Rogan conspired to kill Rayla and kidnap me while Callum was away and take over the kingdom. When we entered the castle with the intent to arrest them, Lord Forsyth summoned a dozen shades with dark magic to kill us, but the shades killed him and Lord Rogan as well. We managed to kill the shades thanks to my brother Callum's magic, but there is still more damage that needs to be dealt with. Are you going to continue to fight for a traitorous lord who is now dead, or your king?"

The room was silent. After a long minute, the captain relented, signaling his men to stand down. Then he knelt before Ezran. "I deeply apologize for my lord's actions, my king," he stated. "Neither he nor Lord Rogan believed that peace with the elves was ever going to be possible, but I never imagined he would come up with such a dastardly plot."

"Well, I'm willing to bet he didn't," Callum said sourly. His hands were no longer electrified, but he was clearly still angry. He walked over to one of the bodies of the corrupted elves and looked down at her, a young Sunfire Elf whose eyes remained black even after the miasma around her body had faded. "Both Forsyth and Rogan _and_ the Neolandian ambassador had a 'benefactor' who supported them. This 'benefactor' gave Forsyth these shades and used others to attack both the Neolandian ambassador and myself." He turned to look at the rest of the room. Ezran looked scared, Amaya angry, Gren and Corvus concerned, Soren filled with dread, and Forsyth's men looked terrified. Callum locked eyes with Rayla, who nodded in agreement.

"Claudia and the wyrm with her that are supposed to be confined to the far northern reaches of Xadia. They set up everything."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another plot foiled, another Arcanum down, and two treacherous lords dead at the hands of their own allies. But what damage has been done in the meantime?


	16. Publicity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezran addresses the people of Katolis about recent events.

Ezran let out a sigh of resignation. "Alright, let's get this address to the people over with."

Callum handed the young king his notes. "Hopefully we'll be done cleaning everything up before the solstice."

"I wouldn't count on it," Ezran said soberly. "But we will _all_ be needing a break after this."

"Yeah," Callum agreed. He laid his hand on his brother's shoulder. "You got this."

"Thanks, Callum," Ezran told him, adding his own hand on top of his brother's. Then, he stepped out onto the balcony to address the murmuring crowds below.

"Citizens of Katolis!" Ezran began, in as loud and commanding a voice as he could muster. The murmurs quieted to a whisper as the boy king began to speak. "I stand here now to inform the people as to the events of the last week. Ten days ago, in the very courtyard where we stand today, the ambassador from Neolandia enchanted a dagger with dark magic and caused it to fly to Xadia in an attempt to murder my brother, Prince Callum." The listeners gasped, and Ezran continued. "Fortunately, the attempt was foiled by my brother's use of sky magic and the quick action of his elvish companion, Rayla. The two of them traced the origins of the dark magic with which the knife was enchanted back to this very courtyard, wherupon another spell was derived to reveal the events that had taken place at the time that the dagger was sent. This spell also revealed that the Neolandian ambassador had not been working alone, but also with others who wished to incite war between the humans and the elves, a war which would have destroyed us.

"However, before soldiers could be sent out to capture him as he was riding home from Katolis, we received word that he and his retinue were murdered." Further noises of shock ran through the crowd, and Ezran had to hold up his hands to silence them before continuing. "My brother led a team to the site to discover the truth of his fate, and there, he discovered the creatures that were responsible for his death." He took a deep breath and said, "These creatures are called _shades_. They are the minions of a creature called a _wyrm_ that looks similar to a dragon, though it has no wings and drags its belly on the ground with the help of its twelve legs. Both the wyrm and the shades are unnatural creatures, born through the use of dark magic, for as the wyrm is a mockery of dragons, the shades are in mockery of elves.

"These shades used to be elven warriors," Ezran now spoke passionately and sorrowfully. "Proud, brave young men and women ready and willing to give their lives to protect their homes and families, not unlike our own soldiers, who stand vigil over our own kingdom of Katolis. However, the bite of the wyrm afflicted them with a poison that corrupted their bodies with dark magic, twisting them until they became shrouded in shadows and could do no more than obey the orders of the wyrm and the dark mage that created it, and kill until they themselves died. Several of these shades attacked my brother's company at the site of the Neolandian ambassador's murder, but he was fortunately able to subdue and slay them before they could bring any further harm.

"This brings us to the events that transpired here at the castle itself. On the same day that Prince Callum defeated the shades that slew the Neolandian ambassador, Lords Forsyth and Rogan brought many of their own soldiers into the castle in an attempt to murder the elf known as the Lady Rayla, mine and my brother's companion while we were on our quest to return the Dragon Prince to his mother. Their second purpose was to kidnap none other than myself." The audience had no further shock to give, and simply stood there with wide eyes. "After we escaped and met up with Prince Callum and General Amaya, on the night of the full moon, we entered the castle once more with the intent to arrest the two lords for their traitorous actions. It was in this moment that Lord Forsyth showed his true colors and summoned twelve of the same shades that killed the Neolandian ambassador and attacked my brother. These shades then proceeded to murder the two traitorous lords where they stood and attacked everyone else in the room.

"The shades have been put down, fortunately, which brings us to the main point of this address: Lord Forsyth and Lord Rogan's goals, before they were slain by the shades they called upon to slay their enemies, were the same as the Neolandian ambassador's. All three of them were murdered, my brother, Prince Callum, was attacked multiple times, and I came close to being kidnapped because there is someone out there who wants nothing more than for humans and elves to be at war. This is why they use monsters in the shapes of elves for their plots and a beast in the shape of a flightless dragon. These monsters are the product of _dark magic_ , and dark magic is our enemy now, not Xadia. As such, as of this day, all practice of dark magic, save in the most dire of circumstances, is prohibited within the kingdom of Katolis, and all practitioners will be expected to abandon the practice immediately."

The people down in the courtyard once again began to murmur out of amazement at their young king's address. He again held up his hands to signal for quiet. "This brings us to the final two points of my address to you today. The first is concerning Forsyth and Rogan. Because of the unfaithfulness their houses have shown to the crown, I have decided that once his missions in Xadia have been completed, the provinces of Forsyth and Rogan will be granted to none other than the one who contributed most to foiling their plots, my brother, Prince Callum."

That went down pretty well with the crowd, and the scattered cheering quickly turned into a roar of approval. After the noise once again died down, Ezran continued, "My second point concerns Katolis' stance towards magic. As you well know, humans have relied heavily on dark magic for centuries after the continent was divided. But too long have we ignored that the practice has consequences, as the very act of using dark magic corrupts both the body and the soul. In addition, the fact that it requires the mage to use parts of magical creatures to fuel their spells means that over the last several centuries, humans have hunted magical creatures to perform spells that would increase their power, driving many of them to near extinction. This is the reason that the continent was divided in the first place, driving us apart by means of a river of lava that dark mages might not intrude into Xadia to poach magical creatures for use in magic that does as much harm as good, if not more.

"But hope for humanity is not yet lost, for as you know, Prince Callum, on our mission to return the Dragon Prince to his mother, discovered that it is indeed possible for humans to perform _real_ magic: Primal Magic. While humans are not born with a connection to one of the primal sources that allows elves to do magic, my brother was still able to forge his own connection to the sky, and during the battle against Lord Forsyth's shades, he repeated the feat, forging a connection to the moon and performing moon magic for the first time. This feat is not exclusive to my brother; another young lady, inspired by my brother's connection to the sky and under the tutelage of a moon mage with whom she was acquainted, was also able to forge a connection to the moon only a month ago.

Now the crowd was alive with amazement. "We do not yet know when this will happen, but one of my hopes is this: once our peace with Xadia has been fully established, we will be able to ask the elves to send mages from each of the elven tribes to come and teach humans how to perform primal magic until our first true mages have reached such a level of mastery over their Arcanum that they will be able to teach their own apprentices in turn. Eventually, I hope that humanity will be freed from the corruption of dark magic. Forever."

The crowd cheered at this final declaration, and Ezran turned away and walked back inside to where Callum, Rayla, Ellis and Ava, Soren, Amaya, Gren, Corvus, and Opeli, who'd just been released from a three-day imprisonment, were waiting for him. Ezran finally let out a sigh of relief. "Thank the _stars_ that's over."

"You did great, buddy," Callum told him. "I'm really proud of you. Although, don't you think that some of that wasn't totally accurate?"

"It got the point across," Opeli maintained. "Humans and elves have a common enemy now: dark magic."

Rayla was grinning at her boyfriend. "I wasn't expecting _you_ to be getting anything out of this, though."

"Yeah, who decided I was going to be getting Forsyth and Rogan's territories?" Callum asked.

"It was a group decision," Corvus answered with a smile on his face.

"Indeed," Opeli agreed. She continued as the group started walking. "Lord Forsyth was the ringleader of the revolt, so it shouldn't be any wonder that his entire family will be removed from their positions. Also, Lord Rogan didn't have an heir, so you would be doing us a favor in taking control of their provinces. Of course, new regents will be appointed by the crown until your missions in Xadia are done and you can spend more time in Katolis."

"And there's also the matter of finding new lords to fill the gaps in the council," Ezran replied. "We were planning on getting rid of those two anyway sooner or later, but I haven't managed to get around to finding people to replace them. I guess now I have as good an excuse as I'm going to get."

"Why did those shades kill all those people though?" Ellis asked. "That's the part I'm still confused about."

"Probably several reasons," Opeli answered. "For one thing, they were all conspirators in a plan to harm the royal family. Now that they're dead, they can't confess why they did what they did to the other human kingdoms. Also, anyone killed by them would look like they'd been killed by elves."

"So it was all to try and make humans want to go to war with the elves?" Ellis wondered. "Boy, talk about devious. That is just _evil_."

"Exactly," Soren told her. "And that's exactly the kind of thing we're fighting here."

Ezran looked at his Crownguard. Soren was barely paying attention to his surroundings, head down and with a sad, brooding face. He was obviously thinking about Claudia, but Ezran didn't want to pry.

"Speaking of the other human kingdoms..." Opeli started.

"I know, I know," Ezran told her.

"What's this about?" Rayla inquired.

Ezran sighed. "It's the other four human kingdoms. Neolandia wants to host a summit of the Pentarchy."

* * *

It was a few days later that Natalia heard the news of King Ezran's speech at Castle Katolis. Now, it was all anyone was talking about in her family's little inn. She still hadn't told anyone what she'd heard that night, when Prince Callum had stayed at her inn.

Sun, moon, stars, earth, sky, and ocean...

So Prince Callum had connected to the sky and moon and another girl had also connected to the moon? She'd already seen the prince use magic, so she didn't really need further proof it was possible, but the other girl...Natalia was pretty sure she'd been the young village girl who'd accompanied the prince and the three trackers when they'd stayed at her family's inn that night.

Natalia looked out the window at the setting sun, feeling its warmth stream through the window. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and focused on its warmth, kneeling before the fireplace. She had done this several times in the days since Prince Callum's stay, but this time, she was inspired. To truly connect to her own magic, she had to know it with her head, hand, and heart...

Natalia, still with her eyes closed, brushed her finger across the stones of the hearth.

A single, bright spark fell from her fingertip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter that I came out with earlier than I expected, and one that I had to divide into two parts because I didn't anticipate Ezran's speech taking as long as it did. At this point, I'm not being at all compliant with my predictions for how the canon Season 4 will go, I'm just having the story progress as naturally as I can make it. Keep in mind that even I don't know how this will end, so if you have ANY ideas at all, please write them down in the comments! I'll thank you for them later.
> 
> Also, yes, I added in Natalia again. This is not a drill.


	17. Summit of the Pentarchy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezran converses with the other human monarchs and regents and tries to convince them who the real threat is.

"...and that brings me to the end of my story," Ezran concluded, finally sitting back on his seat with a sigh.

"I'm glad you've told us this, King Ezran," Queen Aanya told him. "The whole adventure aside, do you know where this wyrm that is controlling the shades is?"

"Not exactly," Ezran admitted. "The elves should have it confined to the Shiverglades in northern Xadia, but either it or the dark mage who commands it can clearly communicate with other people across long distances using some form of magic, and the shades themselves can also be somehow sent across long distances through the use of dark magic."

"I see what you're doing," Lord Hugh, the regent of Del Bar, spoke up. "You're trying to tell us to get rid of dark magic."

"It's only a suggestion, Lord Hugh," Ezran reminded him. "If you have dark mages among your citizens, I suggest you keep an eye on them. Any of them could be the next to allow shades to enter one of the human kingdoms, and I'm not sure you're prepared to deal with them."

Now, it was Lady Deborah's turn to speak. "So what you're saying," the regent of Evenere suggested, "is if we don't forbid our mages from using dark magic, you will let elves into our borders to slaughter our people?"

"What?" Ezran asked, confused. "Why would I do that?"

"I have no reason to believe anything you say, _boy_. The last time our kingdoms trusted Katolis, we lost a third of our men in a war against Xadia, and those that remained came home disabled and suffering from constant pain. And now you want us to throw away our best defense against the elves and dragons over a fabricated story about corrupted elves and a worm controlled by a dark mage?" The woman scoffed. "You'll have to come up with something better than a fairy tale if you want to weaken Evenere any further."

"That's not what I'm saying!" Ezran protested. "I'm only trying to warn you what's going on! The enemy wants humans and elves to fight each other, and if we do what they want us to do, we'll only be playing right into their hands!"

"King Ahling, you called for this summit. Talk some sense into this boy!" Lord Hugh told the Neolandian king.

Ahling had hardly said more than a dozen words since the beginning of the summit. He had called the summit because his lords had insisted he do so after his ambassador to Katolis had turned up dead. He was still grieving the death of his son and recovering from the attempted assassination, so his formerly jolly and optimistic nature had been severely overturned in the months following the Battle of the Storm Spire. "King Ezran," he said finally, "are you able to present any proof of this tale of yours?"

"None that I was able to bring to this summit," Ezran admitted. "If you want though, you can come to Katolis and witness the scenes I told you about yourself with the help of my brother's magic."

"As if we would trust elvish magic to reveal the truth of this matter," Lady Deborah scoffed.

"First of all," Aanya interrupted, "Prince Callum is human. Secondly, if you distrust the magic that much, then why don't you have one of your citizens connect to the Moon Arcanum and have them perform the spell?"

"Why are you on his side?" Lord Hugh demanded. "The elves assassinated both King Florian and Queen Fareeda, and your own parents were murdered by the Dragon King!"

"I believe him," Aanya declared, rising from her seat, "because an attempt on my life was made at the same time as the assassinations of your own monarchs!" The room fell silent. "I sent no word at the time because I did not wish to cause undue alarm, but only a few days after the last summit, when I refused to join the regent of Katolis in his assault on Xadia-"

"Lord Viren was never my regent," Ezran interrupted. "He was trying to take advantage of my father's death and my brother's and my disappearances at the time." Aanya gave him an annoyed look. "Sorry, please continue."

Aanya started again. "A few nights after that summit, the attempt came. It had the shape of an elf, and bore an elvish weapon, but its body was made of black smoke and all weapons passed right through it. It was defeated before harm could come to me by the quick wit of one of my retainers, who used a combination of fire to burn the wraith and wind to break up its form and stop it. The wraith was clearly the product of dark magic, and came just after a summit where we refused to aid a dark mage in his quest to attack Xadia."

Ezran gasped as this news sank in. "You mean you think it was _Viren_ who tried to kill you?"

"Indeed," Aanya confirmed.

Ahling stroked his beard thoughtfully. "I must admit, your story does line up with my own experience," he mused. "I was unable to see my attacker clearly, it was too dark. But I did think their body was oddly unsubstantial."

"King Ahling!" Lady Deborah protested. "You can't possibly be considering this story to hold water!"

"At the moment, Lady Deborah, I see no reason why it can't," Ahling remarked. He let out a sigh. "I'm tired of war anyway. I want no more of it. I do not trust the elves, but if they are willing to stay away from my kingdom, I see no reason to invade them again after everything I've already lost." He stood from his chair, holding a hand to his side as though he was still in a bit of pain. "I will be sending a witness to you in the coming days to determine the truth of your story," he said to Ezran. "If we determine that your story is true, I will follow your advice to keep an eye on the people in my kingdom that practice dark magic, but I'm afraid that unless you are ready to share your better alternative, we will be forced to continue to rely on it."

"That's all I could reasonably ask for," Ezran told him as the old monarch left the room. A little later, the regents of Del Bar and Evenere followed him out, leaving only Ezran and Aanya.

"You _have_ had some adventures," Aanya told him.

"Please don't make fun of me," Ezran begged her. She laughed at him.

"Still," she told him, "when can I get one of your primal mages to share their secrets with Duren?"

"Both of them are still training," Ezran reminded her. "And besides, they only cover the sky and the moon between them. I was hoping we could wait until we have enough peace with Xadia to bring over some elven mages to teach our people primal magic."

"If dark magic is going to continue to be as much of a threat as it has been, we're going to need means of fighting it sooner rather than later," Aanya pointed out. "Especially since you told me that they've been getting stronger since Prince Callum last fought them. Let alone the corrupted Earthblood Elves with skin like metal, I'm seriously worried about that howl you told me that the Moonshadow shades can do."

"Yeah," Ezran agreed. "We really need to find a way to prevent that."

"Are you really okay with the answer Ahling gave you after his ambassador tried to murder Prince Callum?" Aanya asked.

"The man who did it is dead," Ezran told her. "And when he talked to whoever his benefactor was, he clearly disrespected King Ahling and said he was weak. No, Ahling wouldn't have had anything to do with it, and I don't like revenge anyway. My brother told me about it once; revenge only makes more revenge. It's a cycle."

Aanya smiled at him. "You're a good king, King Ezran."

"Really?" Ezran asked. "I don't feel like it."

"Neither would I if I had to deal with as much as you," Aanya told him. "Have you heard anything from Lux Aurea on how well the alliance is coming?"

"Most of the other elven nations are still suspicious of any sort of alliance with humans," Ezran told her. "The Skywing Elves probably the least, they're apparently known for being more accepting of change, but some of the Earthblood lords and most Moonshadow communities hate humans with a passion. Callum told me about it. The rumors of Callum's ability to do primal magic without a primal stone have been getting around though. By this point, it's had more of an effect on elves' view of humans than the Battle of the Storm Spire did."

"That's a good sign at least."

"Yeah, it is."

* * *

The guard finally walked back to the Evenerian and Del Barian regents after listening in on the child rulers' conversation. "Well?" Lady Deborah prompted.

"Nothing suspicious in their speech as far as I could tell," the guard told the two regents. "They appear to genuinely believe everything King Ezran's been saying the whole time."

"No indication that they want to invade our kingdoms?" Lord Hugh asked.

"Queen Aanya mentioned that she wanted King Ezran to share his primal mages with Duren because they needed a way to fight the threat of dark magic. They were speaking of the new powers the supposed shades employed in their latest attack on his person though, so I doubt it. Ezran said later that he had nothing against Ahling despite what his ambassador did because the ambassador disrespected Ahling and because revenge is a neverending cycle."

Lady Deborah probed further, "Was there any mention of Del Bar or Evenere at all?"

"None, milady."

"Fine. Anything about the elves?" she asked.

"Some of the elvish nations are more open to the idea of allying with humans than others," the guard reported. "And apparently, they're more interested in humans having the ability to use primal magic."

The two regents looked at each other. "So what now?" Lady Deborah asked.

Lord Hugh contemplated this. "I don't want to believe it," he admitted. "It's far too convenient. Attacks by elvish figures that aren't really elves that tried to murder the Katolian royal line? Lord Viren being responsible for King Florian and Queen Fareeda's deaths? We're going to need more than just speculation if we're going to get to the bottom of this." He looked at Lady Deborah. "And I don't believe you were very helpful, with how rude you were to King Ezran."

Lady Deborah scoffed a bit. "The more I goad him, the more he'll want to prove to me that his story is real. If it is, he will present the evidence. If it isn't, his lies will eventually become transparent."

"I think I'm beginning to understand why your people refer to you as 'The Shrewd Marsh Hawk,'" Lord Hugh remarked.

"Don't call me that again."

* * *

At the Banther Lodge, Callum and Rayla looked out into the falling snow, waiting for Ezran's arrival. Finally, after several hours of waiting, they were almost here. The line of horses and carriages stepped out into the snow-laden clearing and walked steadily toward the lodge. A grin broke out on Callum's face as he and Rayla ran down the front porch to the arriving group.

Amaya dismounted first so she could catch Callum with a signature crushing hug. Unlike previous meetings however, Rayla was also included, sharing a close handshake with the general as the two met with matching mischievous grins. When they were done with their wordless welcome, they turned to Soren, who was already standing by Ezran's carraige with a slightly sad smile on his face. Then Ezran was charging right at the two of them, and then they were all together again.

"Good to have you with us, Ez," Callum told his little brother through the hug. "Everything done?"

"Yes, finally," Ezran replied. "Hopefully now we can enjoy the solstice."

"With this crew we've got?" Rayla asked in a slightly baffled tone. "Any shades within a hundred miles of Katolis had better run for the Gulf of Tenebris."

Callum and Ezran chuckled and Amaya shook her head with amusement. "Come on, let's go inside," Gren translated when she signed.

And so the family was together again for another winter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea what I'm going to be writing for the next chapter, but whatever it ends up being, I'll still give it my all. Maybe after doing a slow chapter on the solstice, I'll do another timeskip. If you have any suggestions for the length of the timeskip, leave them in the comments.


	18. Solstice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone celebrates the winter solstice, however they can. Mostly just harmless fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a little extra immersion, read to the song Roads Go Ever On (Clamavi de Profundis).

Claudia's last winter solstice had been a happy one. Her father hadn't ever really been that into holidays, but Soren had always found time to spend with her while Callum and Ezran were off having fun with the king. A hike through the woods with her brother was one of those things that was just so enjoyable, especially for Claudia, who adored the beauty of the natural world, even as she foraged for dark magic materials on the side. The road just went on and on through the woods, continuing off to who-knows-where, and she'd always longed to see just how far it went before she and Soren had to turn around and walk back to the Banther Lodge. Once they got back, Callum was there, asking where she'd been, giving her hot cocoa, and just being ever so sweet in the way he'd always been.

Now, she was living in a secret hideout in the Uncharted Forest in Xadia, built by the sort-of-dragonlike-creature-who-claimed-to-be-an-elven-archmage-named-Aaravos, and while it was warm, well-lit, and clean for how long it hadn't been used, the atmosphere was too cold and lonely for it ever to be called "homely." Viren had made himself right at home, but Claudia just couldn't get used to the lack of any elements that had made Castle Katolis feel like home: the wooden floors, the tall windows, the courtyard with the grass and trees, Callum and Ezran running around and getting into trouble.

Claudia clapped her hands against her temples, trying to dislodge those thoughts. It was no use thinking about Callum anymore. They'd gone their separate ways. He'd chosen the elves and his primal magic. She'd chosen her father and dark magic.

But she still couldn't help but wonder if she'd chosen wrong.

"Claudia," Viren's voice shook her out of her thoughts. He was standing in the doorway of her room, looking at her with a concerned expression. Claudia sprang up from her chair, rushed over, and hugged her father. His surprised expression quickly turned back into a smile as he received his daughter's embrace. "Happy solstice, Claudia."

"Happy solstice, Dad," she whispered into his shoulder.

When she eased her embrace, Viren held her shoulders and looked her in the face. "Claudia, I know I haven't been the best father, but I want you to know that no matter what we go through, you will always be my daughter, and I will always love you. And I know I wasn't always there with you for the holidays, so...if you want, maybe we can...go out into the woods like you used to...?"

Claudia started to tear up a little. "Dad, I can't think of anything right now I'd love more."

* * *

The sled raced down the white-layered slope, carrying its precious cargo of two princes and a Moonshadow Elf down the mountain. All three of them were yelling at the top of their lungs, Ezran at the front doing his best to steer past jutting rocks and the occasional tree, while Rayla was clinging to Callum from behind with an ecstatic look on her face. Callum, in the meantime, was holding onto Ezran with just one hand while he kept the other hand free. Why?

" _Aspiro Frigis!_ "

Callum sent a freezing blast of wind over Ezran's shoulder, forming a great curved wall of ice up against a tree that Ezran veered a little too close to. The sled clattered as it skated across the ice and back onto the snow, now headed straight for a ledge over a frozen creek. Rayla and Ezran screamed even louder as Callum hastily drew another rune.

" _Ventus Modero!_ "

As the sled skipped off the ledge and went flying, it almost seemed to hang in the air as Callum's spell took effect, keeping them suspended for far longer than they should've been before touching down on the opposite ledge and continuing its mad descent. They were now headed for a massive snowbank that they would definitely crash into now.

" _Ventus!_ "

The simple wind spell struck the snowdrift head-on, and while it didn't carve a tunnel right through it like Callum had hoped, it was deflected up the top instead, turning the massive pile of fallen snow into a ramp that their sled hit at full speed. The screaming trio shot into the sky faster than Callum could react, and they flew so high, they could actually see the Banther Lodge on the other side of the trees.

"Bail out!" Ezran was yelling. They were starting to fall, without the sled.

" _Manus, Pluma, Volantus!_ " Callum cried out, siezing Ezran around the middle with his legs just before he spread his wings to turn their fall into a glide. The sled smacked into the snow and tumbled down the mountain as the three of them glided ahead. Callum could barely keep them aloft, but the Lodge was so close he could see Aunt Amaya out on the front porch.

As he glided down from the mountain way too fast for comfort, Ezran suddenly shouted, "The snowbank! Drop me in the snowbank!" Callum obliged. Ezran tumbled down the last half a meter or so and made a magnificent belly-flop into the pillow-like snowbank. Callum flapped his wings to steady himself and landed somewhat gracelessly on the ground a few meters away, Rayla still clinging to him like their lives depended on it.

"Ez! You okay?" Callum called over. For a brief second, there was silence.

Then Ezran's head popped out of the snowbank. " _That was so awesome!!_ " He kicked his way out of the snowbank as Callum and Rayla both breathed a sigh of relief. They were then immediately cut off when the boy king lobbed a snowball in their direction and Callum had to duck before it decked him. Amaya suddenly grew a massive smile on her face as the three of them started running around, pelting each other with snowballs. Amaya slowly walked off the porch and onto the snow, but right as she stooped, Ezran caught sight of her.

"Oh, no! Aunt Amaya's joining in!" he gasped.

"RUN!" Callum laughed, and now all three of them were fleeing from the Katolian general's powerful shot put. Finally, she caught Callum in the back and knocked him down. Then he formed one of his own, which Amaya easily dodged, but Rayla came in to support him, and her more accurate snowballs forced her to retreat. Finally, Ezran and Rayla joined forces to keep Amaya occupied while Callum channeled a " _Ventus Frigis Circumitus!_ " to set up a temporary ice fortress to ward her off. Then Soren caught sight of the fun and joined in on Amaya's team, and then they were just dodging, laughing, and lobbing snowball after snowball until everyone was tired out and trying to laugh and gasp for air at the same time.

For Callum, both of his parents might have been gone, but no solstice had ever been as good as this one.

* * *

Rayla had loved the fun in the snow just as much as Callum. The snow elves they'd made were apparently snow _men_ for some reason (didn't stop her from making them snow elves though) and the sledding and snowball fights ranged from exhilirating to terrifying, but that didn't stop her from enjoying every moment. She could hardly imagine a time since her parents left to join the Dragonguard that she'd had as much fun as she'd had today, and she'd certainly never expected that such a day would be spent with humans of all things. And yet it had, and strangely, she'd never been happier.

She was still behind the ice fort that Callum had conjured, out of breath and out of snowballs, staring into the eyes of her silly mage prince, who was spread-eagled on the ground looking up at her after taking one of Soren's snowballs to the chest. He stared right back at her with that goofy smile of his on his face. This day could _not_ get any better. Otherwise, it could _not_ be real.

Oh, how the universe loved to prove her wrong.

"I seem to have missed the fun," came a familiar voice from the eastern side of the clearing.

Rayla's head shot up and she leapt out of the ice fort and sprinted across the clearing. " _Ethari!_ " she cried, flinging herself into her foster father's arms. The Moonshadow blacksmith laughed and hugged her back. When she finally released him, she asked, "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

Ethari smiled at her and told her, "I received a letter from Katolis about a week ago, asking if I wanted to spend the solstice here with you since you were planning on spending it here."

"Surprise," came Callum's smug voice behind her.

She gaped at him. "You...?"

"I wanted you to share the solstice with people you cared about," he started to explain. "Besides, I'm fairly sure it wouldn't be fair for Ethari to have to spend the solstice alo-"

Rayla threw her arms around her prince and kissed him. Deeply, and in full view of everyone else. When their lips finally parted, Rayla whispered, "I love you Callum, so much."

"I love you too, Rayla. Happy solstice."

Behind Callum, Soren suddenly asked, "Wait, _that's_ why you two are always...?"

Ethari scratched his head. "Maybe we should head inside so you can explain everything to me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we end with some extra fluffiness and a dash of humor. I hope you all enjoyed, and stay tuned for the next arc!


	19. Hopeful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callum and Rayla fly to Katolis a little early in order to avoid meeting Sol Regem when he demands to meet with Zubeia. When they arrive though, they meet someone they didn't expect to.

"You want us to leave early?" Callum asked, confused.

"I've just received word that Sol Regem is on his way here," the Dragon Queen clarified. "I expect he has come to object to my efforts in building peace with the human kingdoms. In that case, it would probably be best if you both were to leave as soon as possible. If Sol Regem were to find a human at the spire, I would have little to no chance of convincing him to stay his rage."

"Understandable," Rayla remarked. "The last time we met...wasn't the most pleasant."

"Speaking of which," Zubeia snarled, "I have something to say to him concerning that time. He not only tried to kill the first human ever to connect to a primal source, but also my son and the elf who saved him, rather than let them pass into Xadia unmolested. Better you aren't here for that _particular_ conversation."

"Well, packing doesn't take that long, so we can be out of here in only an hour or so, right?" Callum looked at Rayla.

"Easy," Rayla confirmed. She bowed to the Dragon Queen. "We understand. Thank you, your majesty."

Thirty minutes later, they were already flying away from the Storm Spire. There was little chance that they would run into Sol Regem in midair, but Callum didn't want to take any chances. They were flying right above the cloud layer, ready to dive down into the mist if Sol Regem arrived early. There was no talking between them. They would feel safer once they were away from the Storm Spire, and it was a two-day flight to the castle anyway. The first day would just get them over the border from the top of the Storm Spire, and the second always got them to Katolis just as the sun was starting to set.

* * *

Natalia only had so much money at the moment. She'd managed so save up on tips from managing her family's inn, but she would still have to get some more money if she was going to continue staying in an inn.

It had been a few days since she'd left her village in search of fortune. She'd hitched a ride with a merchant heading back to the capital early because King Ezran's birthday was almost here. It would also be a highly momentous occasion because it would be the first time that official elven representatives would be present in Katolis for such an event. That meant that it was probably her only chance at finding someone who could teach her magic.

Natalia still hadn't told anyone her secret. After months of contemplation and a few times when she'd come just within arms reach of success, she'd finally managed to make the connection. But even with the connection, she could do little more than channel a little heat to her hands or breath when she was cold or light a small fire with her fingers. To do anything else, she would need to find someone who could actually teach her.

Natalia looked at the notice board on the side of the Order of the Broken Chains' headquarters. The Order operated directly under the crown, and they took in virtually anyone, using a wide network of connections that was quickly spreading across the entire country in order to gather information, link people up with new work opportunities, and provide people with training in defense, tracking, and mediation if they wanted to become part of the Order's militant forces. In addition, there was a notice that confirmed all the talks about the ban on dark magic.

_All use of dark magic within Katolis has been prohibited by the crown in all but the most dire of circumstances. All practitioners are expected to abandon the practice lest they risk any further harm caused by its use fall upon themselves or the people around them._

But Natalia didn't use dark magic. She had something more...primal.

Natalia entered the lobby and walked over to the receptionist. "Good evening," the receptionist greeted her. "How may I help you?"

Natalia swallowed her nervousness and said, "I believe I have information that the people above you would like to hear."

The receptionist raised an eyebrow, but let her continue.

* * *

Callum and Rayla made it to the castle right as a small party of Sunfire Elves on Twin-Tailed Inferno-Tooth Tigers were arriving at the gates themselves. Soren, Marcos, and General Amaya could be seen greeting them as they flew in. Naturally, it was Soren who was the first to notice them, and when he pointed and waved, the others also followed his gaze and turned in order to greet the pair as they landed on the bridge. General Amaya was the first to step forward to give her nephew a crushing hug, as usual, but unlike usual, she included Rayla in it this time.

Soren jogged over, laughing as he beheld the two of them. "Good to see you guys again!" he called. "I can't believe you're here so soon! You weren't expected to arrive for a couple more days!"

"Something came up and we had to leave a little early," Callum explained. "Come on, let's head inside and I'll explain everything."

The only difference the castle had seen since Callum and Rayla had left after their solstice vacation was it was no longer covered in snow. The guards still drilled in the courtyard or patrolled the halls and battlements, warm smells came from the kitchens, the halls were adorned with the same red and gold, and Ezran, despite being a king now, was still the same kid as when they'd left.

After all the hugging was done and everyone had made it to a comfortable sitting room to discuss the circumstances, Callum explained why they'd arrived early. Ezran's reaction was a little sad. "Well, I suppose there's no helping it. Let's just hope that Sol Regem doesn't have too much say against the Dragon Queen."

"He doesn't," Queen Janai confirmed. She and her retinue, including a pair of guards, one of whom had a hard time tearing her eyes away from Marcos, and her high mage Aurora and her apprentice Corin, had decided to accompany them since the matter included Sol Regem, who had long been a powerful symbol to the Sunfire Elves. "Sol Regem has very little say against the Dragon Queen, especially if what you say is true and he tried to murder all of you when you crossed into Xadia."

"Then let's hope he gets a good dressing-down when she chews him out for it," Gren translated for Amaya.

"That being said, I doubt it will be enough to sate Sol Regem's rage," Aurora spoke for the first time. Her hair was jet black, complimenting her dark brown skin and golden eyes excellently, and her robe and staff were white and gold. "His burn still causes him pain, even a thousand years after it was dealt. Even before he was blinded by a dark mage, he saw humans as lesser beings. I don't believe he will so easily relinquish his hatred."

"Is there anything we _can_ do?" Ezran asked.

"I don't know, Ez," Callum answered. "I don't think even if humans gave up on dark magic entirely and instead focused on connecting to primal magic, he would ever consider us as equals."

"Agreed," Rayla said. "There's a reason he's been a symbol of hatred and rage all these years."

"Indeed," Janai agreed. "Even if-"

The door suddenly opened and another guard stumbled inside, breathing hard. "Your majesty! Honored guests!" he gasped. "So sorry for the interruption, but there's urgent news from the Order headquarters!"

"What's going on?" Ezran demanded, rising to his feet.

"A girl just arrived at the headquarters," the soldier stammered. "She-she claims to have connected to another primal source."

* * *

After that bomb had dropped, Callum had stayed long enough to grab the Key of Aaravos and learn that the Order was keeping her waiting while the message was brought up to the castle before dashing out of the room with Rayla right on his heels, telling him to wait. Finally, he reached to courtyard and was about to summon his wings when Rayla caught up to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind, pinning his in place.

"Callum, just wait!" she insisted. "You're not the only one who's excited here. Just wait up so everyone can catch up."

Callum let out his breath. "Okay. Sorry, Rayla."

Aurora and Corin jogged up from behind. "Don't run off like that, Prince Callum," the sun mage told him. "You're not the only one who wants to meet this new human mage."

"She's only the third one in human history!" Callum protested, waving the Key of Aaravos. "How could I not be excited?"

"A fair point," Corin told him, "but please don't leave the rest of us behind."

As the group walked out the gate and headed down to the town, Corin ventured, "Which primal do you think this new human mage connected to?"

Callum held up the Key. The sun, moon, and sky runes all glowed. "Whichever one it is, I hope it's one that we can actually teach her how to use," Callum answered. "I only know how to use sky magic, but Lujanne might be able to take on another moon apprentice. Plus, if she has the Sun Arcanum, Master Aurora might be able to help her out while she's still here."

"We'll see about that," Aurora answered flatly.

"Well, I think she won't have connected to the Star Arcanum," Corin reasoned. "It's supposed to be the most difficult magic to learn, so I can't imagine she would be able to learn the Arcanum just from scratch like you did with the sky."

"Probably the same for the Moon Arcanum," Callum continued. "I had a lot of help from Lujanne and Ellis when I learned the Moon Arcanum, and even then, it took a near-death experience for me to have a breakthrough."

" _You connected to the Moon Arcanum!?_ " Aurora and Corin echoed each other.

"I-uh, yeah. Yeah, I did. Did I forget to mention that?"

"Yes, you did," Rayla answered.

"Anyway," Callum continued, "I haven't had any actual training with the Moon Arcanum, I just know a few spells that I picked up when I was watching Ellis and Lujanne use them."

Corin was still gaping at him, but Aurora had managed to shake off her surprise long enough to say, "Learning one Arcanum on your own as a human is already unheard of, but _two?_ Even most elven mages struggle to understand any Arcanum other than their own, and hardly any have actually managed to make a second connection."

"Are you going to try to connect to all of them?" Corin asked.

"Uh...probably not?" Callum said uncertainly, scratching the back of his head. "I only learned the Moon Arcanum because it was necessary at the time. I'll probably only want to connect to more magic if it becomes necessary."

The Order Headquarters was easy to pick out from the other buildings. It was a stone-and-wood building constructed almost like a mini fortress right on the outskirts of the town, up against the main road leading up to the castle. A billboard of requests and notices adorned the wall next to the front door. The group walked over to the door and entered the lobby, where the four of them were immediately greeted by Corvus.

"Prince Callum!" he said, hastening to the prince's side. "I didn't expect you to arrive so early, but I'm glad you're here. I was expecting the castle to send word for us to put her up for a while until you could come down to inspect her, but since you're already here, it's perfect."

"We're going to see her," Callum told him. "Could you make sure we aren't disturbed?"

"Of course, your highness. Right this way."

Corvus led the group down the hall into the newest wing of the building, made for housing people who would be staying at the Headquarters long-term. The single rooms would normally only be given to ranking officers, but Corvus obviously hadn't wanted to use one of the larger rooms for want of privacy. Corvus opened the door and the five of them entered the small bedroom, which had a single bed, a small dresser, and a desk with a bookshelf. The girl was young, about the same age as Callum and Rayla, with a richly tanned complexion and auburn hair. Her brown eyes widened as they locked onto Callum. His own eyes widened as he recognized her.

"You!" he suddenly gasped.

The girl rose from the bed and bowed. "It's good to meet you again, your highness. My name is Natalia."

"Wait, you know each other?" Rayla asked.

"She was managing the inn we stayed at when we were on our mission back before the solstice," Callum explained. "She saw me use magic to subdue this guy who was harassing her while we were trying to order food and rooms."

"Ah, yes, you told me about that," Rayla remembered. She cracked her knuckles. "I probably would've given him a little bit worse than just a little zap on the back."

"Proably a good thing that you weren't there then."

"Oh, shut up, Callum."

Natalia looked back and forth between them, wide-eyed, no doubt wondering how she could interact so casually with the prince. Callum cleared his throat and continued, "Anyway, this is Rayla. She's a Moonshadow Elf, and she was one of my companions when we went on our quest to return the Dragon Prince to Xadia. And the other two who are with us today are the Sunfire Elf mages who just arrived at the castle for my brother Ezran's birthday, Master Aurora and her apprentice, Corin."

Natalia's eyes widened again as she looked at the Sunfire Elves. Then she started to chuckle. "It must have been fate that brought us here on the same day." She bowed to the Sunfire Elves. "Greetings, Masters Aurora and Corin. I have recently connected to the Sun Arcanum. If you would have me, I would love nothing more than for you to teach me magic."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've put together a few pieces for the next arc or so of the story. Who wants to bet what Master Aurora will end up telling Natalia and who else will be arriving for Ezran's birthday? Leave your thoughts in the comments.


	20. Masters and Apprentices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Master Aurora is apprehensive about taking a human apprentice.

Natalia was trembling. She had no idea how her request would be received. She wasn't even entirely sure that the elves didn't want to kill her. And she was absolutely certain that she was completely unworthy of being in the presence of all the people who had gathered in the little room that the Order member had shown her to. The Captain she would have been able to talk to without worry, she'd done so before after all, and he was more down-to-earth and easy to get along with.

Everyone else, on the other hand, was terrifyingly above her station. For starters, there was Prince Callum. Even if he wasn't related to old King Harrow by blood, he was the first human ever to learn to use primal magic, and he was incredibly close to his brother, King Ezran. The Moonshadow Elf, Lady Rayla she remembered, was probably closer to her station, but the fact that she was a Moonshadow Elf who had probably been trained all her life as a warrior and evidently was very close to Prince Callum frankly made her even more terrifying.

But aside from them, there were the two whose favor she wanted the most: two Sunfire Elf mages, a master and an apprentice. The apprentice, Sir Corin, was closer to her age, being only somewhat older than her, and his dark brown hair and skin complemented his golden eyes well, and he at least didn't appear to hold any hostility towards humans. Master Aurora, on the other hand, was drop-dead gorgeous with her white-and-gold robe, staff, and headdress, sleek ebony hair, and chocolate skin, making her feel even smaller and more inadequate than she already did. She also radiated heat and power, as if her connection to the sun was so powerful that her very skin had been infused with the sun's magic.

The Sunfire mage narrowed her eyes at her. "Why should I allow a human to be trained in magic?" Prince Callum and Lady Rayla whipped their heads around to stare at her, and Captain Corvus opened his mouth to say something, but Sir Corin motioned for them not to interfere. Natalia swallowed. It seemed she was being tested.

"Well...it's a show of good favor, right?" she asked awkwardly. "Helping the human nations now will mean they'll be more likely to help you again in the future. Plus, by teaching humans primal magic, you can make sure they never have to resort to dark magic again."

"A fair answer," Master Aurora admitted. "But how can we be sure you've actually managed to make the connection and aren't lying to us?"

"I've already managed to do some things with my Arcanum without using a spell," Natalia reported. "I can create sparks from my fingers or heat a cup of cold tea with my bare hands."

"If I may, there's an easier way to tell," Prince Callum interrupted. He held up a small cube, its faces a tiny bit bigger than someone's palm and each one carved with a different symbol. He pointed one of the faces, bearing a circular symbol, and pointed it at Lady Rayla. It glowed with a dim white light. Then he pointed another side, this one bearing a symbol similar to three flames moving in a circle, and directed it at Sir Corin and Master Aurora. It glowed with a somewhat stronger orange and yellow light. Next, he directed it at Natalia, again using the flame symbol that no doubt stood for the sun. Again, the glow appeared, a bit faint compared to the Sunfire Elves', more comparable to Lady Rayla's.

Natalia let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she'd been holding in. Even once she knew she'd connected to the Sun Arcanum, she hadn't had the opportunity to let it actually sink in. In the back of her mind, she'd been afraid that she'd been imagining things, that once she claimed to know the Sun Arcanum, she'd be unable to learn magic after all and sent home disgraced. And yet, there was the proof, shining in Prince Callum's hand.

He looked at Master Aurora and told her, "There's no doubt, she is connected to the Sun."

"That does not necessarily mean that she has an aptitude for magic," Master Aurora stated.

"True," Lady Rayla remarked. "I wouldn't have flunked out of magical theory if that'd been the case."

"I'm used to working hard," Natalia assured them. "I've been helping my parents manage my family's inn since I was seven. It doesn't matter how hard you make me study. I promise I can handle it."

"Very well," Master Aurora relented, "But why do you want to learn magic at all? Wouldn't it be easier to simply stay at home and continue doing what you've been doing this whole time? If so, why come all the way here just to beg us to learn magic?"

Natalia was silent for a moment. She didn't want to say it was just a whim that turned into an obsession. That would get her kicked out for sure. Finally, she ventured, "I guess it would be easier. Just living in my peaceful little village, I mean. But if I just did that, I would be saying that I never wanted anything to get better. We still struggle to get through the winters and protect our crops and homes from wolves and bears and natural disasters. There used to be a dark mage in the village, when I was a little girl, and she could sometimes cast some sort of spell to protect us from bandits or give us a better harvest. But after a while, she started to just...wither away, like her use of magic just ate her away from the inside out. Finally, she disappeared and none of us ever heard of her again. And since then, no one's been able to protect us from the bad cards that the world dealt us. I don't think I can explain it any better than that."

Master Aurora considered this for a second. "What would you do if we were to refuse you?"

It was the outcome she'd been dreading most. "I don't know, really. Honestly, there's not much I can do. I used up almost all of my money just to travel here to the capital. If I can't learn magic and I can't get a job, I'll be forced to beg on the streets until I have enough money to pay for a ride back to my village."

* * *

Callum sucked in his breath. If what this girl said was true, she'd taken a huge risk.

"That won't be necessary," Corvus told her. "You're still one of only three humans known to have connected to a primal source. If you have nowhere to go, then you may stay at the Order headquarters until we are able to find someone who _is_ willing to teach you."

Natalia exhaled. "I thank you for your generous offer."

After a few moments, Aurora finally said, "I appreciate that you were willing to come right out and ask for the opportunity to train, as well as your lack of hostility towards elves. However, I will require a little time to think over my decision."

Natalia bowed to her. "Of course. Take as much time as you need."

When they had left the room, as they were leaving the headquarters, Aurora asked, "Prince Callum, from what you've seen, what kind of person would you say this Natalia is?"

Callum scratched the back of his head. "From what I've seen, she's honest, hardworking, earnest, humble, and probably has at least a bit of an obsession. I still have to ask her just how she managed to make a connection all on her own, but while she probably has an independent streak, she's almost certainly not a bad person."

"Your evaluation matches up with mine," Aurora told him.

"So why hesitate?" Rayla asked.

"It's not the kind of person she is that makes me hesitate. Firstly, I already have Corin for an apprentice, so it would be difficult to take on another one who is a year behind him and has no real knowledge of magical theory. Secondly, I would have to gain permission from Queen Janai and the mages' guild in order to mentor a human full-time."

"I have no problem with teaching her about magical theory with you," Corin told her.

"The training would still be a long and arduous process," Aurora told him. "And also, where would the training be held? Back at Lux Aurea? I'm not comfortable with taking her to a city full of elves and with no other humans around, where she would be isolated and maybe even subjected to hatred from those who still hate humans. Here in Katolis? I cannot stay here for long, the Sunforge's purification is almost complete and I must be there to finish it."

"Then you can do what you can while you're here, and when you have to go back to Lux Aurea, you can send someone else to instruct her," Callum replied.

"I'm not one to abandon my duty in the middle, Prince Callum." Aurora's voice took on a hard edge for a moment before softening again. "There is no perfect solution to this issue. That is why I said to give me time to think."

At this statement, Callum decided it would be better to back off. "Got it."

* * *

"How close _is_ the Sunforge to being purified?" Ezran asked when they all got back and gave him the story.

"We've only got a month or so to go before we're able to use it safely again," Janai reported.

"In that case, I could stay behind to start Natalia's training," Corin offered.

"Corin? What makes you say that?" Aurora asked.

Corin explained, "Master, I know I haven't been able to help you back at Lux Aurea while you were busy with the purification of the Sunforge, and I've had to continue my studies on my own. But other than that, I haven't been able to do much. This is something I can actually do. I can start her training with what I'm able to teach her and the resources that are already available here while you make the trip back to Lux Aurea to finish the Sunforge's purification and pick up any resources you'll need to continue training us here in Katolis."

"And you're okay with staying behind in Katolis for untold periods of time?" Aurora asked, leaning forward on her couch.

"I'm the first to admit I'm still not the most comfortable around so many humans," Corin admitted, "but I've been getting better about it ever since I met Prince Callum. Besides, I never had many friends back in Lux Aurea anyway."

"I don't think you will find a better solution than his, Aurora," Janai told her high mage.

Aurora closed her eyes. "I'm still not fond of this plan, my queen."

"It's like you said," Corin told her. "There is no perfect solution to this issue."

"Do you not want to train her?" Rayla asked.

"Actually, it would be a very interesting experience, teaching a human primal magic," Aurora told her. "What I'm not comfortable with is leaving Lux Aurea right after it's finished rebuilding."

"We'll be fine," Janai assured her. "If anything happens again, we'll be prepared to deal with it."

Aurora was silent for a minute. "Very well," she finally relented. "I will train the human Natalia in the use of the Sun Primal."

"Good," Ezran said brightly. "I'll have someone bring her up to the castle tomorrow for lunch to explain everything to her. After that, it's just the last week of preparations until my birthday."

* * *

Natalia's sleep had been fitful and restless. She was still terrified that she would be refused training after all. So when a guardsman of the Order arrived at her room and told her that the people up at the castle wanted to meet with her over lunch, she reluctantly swallowed her terror and followed him up to the castle. When they arrived, she couldn't help feeling very out of place among the fine stonework of the walls, the armored guards, the intricately woven tapestries and carefully painted portraits in the corridors, and, when they got to the dining room, all the finely dressed and widely famed people it contained.

On one side of the table was Prince Callum, Lady Rayla, General Amaya, and a man standing by her side who she assumed was her interpreter, since the fact that the general could only use sign language on account of being deaf was widely known. On the other side of the table, the visiting Sunfire Elves were lined up, including a tall figure in an ornate headdress and armor that marked her as a powerful figure and the less ornately dressed mages that she had met last night. Master Aurora and Sir Corin. And of course, sitting at the head of the table was none other than the soon-to-be eleven year old boy king of Katolis, King Ezran.

Natalia bowed to King Ezran, but he told her, "Please, no bowing. I get enough of that from all the lords and diplomats."

"Y-your majesty?" she stammered.

"Ez hates it when people call him 'your majesty' and bow to him all the time," Lady Rayla explained. "When everyone else puts you on a pedestal, it makes you feel isolated from everyone else."

"Which is why I'm so glad that you still don't," King Ezran told Lady Rayla.

The Moonshadow Elf flashed a mischievous grin. "As you say, _your majesty_."

"Rayla!" the king protested, and both she and Prince Callum burst out laughing. Natalia was dumbfounded by this casual exchange, but in the back of her mind, she reasoned it wasn't too out of place. After all, she could only imagine the kinds of struggles they'd been on together.

"Anyway," the boy king continued, "have a seat and have some lunch. Help yourself to anything; there's plenty to go around. Then we can talk about your apprenticeship."

Natalia bowed to him again, to which King Ezran gave a slightly frustrated sigh, and took a seat next to Lady Rayla, close to the foot of the table. The food was a variety of delicious things that included expertly crafted sandwiches, various fruits of both familiar and unfamiliar varieties, grilled venison in a strange sauce she'd never seen before, and a couple different kinds of pastries, one of which the king took a sizeable amount of. The Sunfire Elves, on the other hand, found the venison more interesting.

"Not as spicy as what I'm used to, but it does have a certain tang that is unlike the spices we have back at Lux Aurea," remarked the tall Sunfire Elf with the ornate headdress, whom Natalia had learned was the new queen of the Sunfire Elves, Queen Janai.

"Well, to each their own I guess," Lady Rayla remarked over her own plate almost exclusively loaded with different kinds of fruit. Apparently Moonshadow Elves were largely vegetarian.

Finally, Master Aurora decided to address the elephant in the room. "Natalia," she addressed the village girl, "We have discussed at length the status of your training in sun magic. There are issues with the timing, so we were unable to come up with a perfect solution, but what we have come up with is the best we could do, so bear with us on that."

Natalia nervously swallowed the last of her pastry.

Master Aurora continued. "I regret that peace between Katolis and Lux Aurea is still in such an early phase. Otherwise I would be comfortable simply bringing you with us back to Lux Aurea to train you. Unfortunately, anti-human sentiment is still prominent in my country, just as anti-elven sentiment does here in Katolis. Still, I must return to Lux Aurea once King Ezran's birthday celebration is over, as I am needed to assist in rebuilding Lux Aurea after it was destroyed in the war.

"Therefore, we have reached a compromise. I will be going back to Lux Aurea to finish my business there, and in the meantime, my apprentice, Corin, will begin your training." Sir Corin gave her a reassuring smile. "In around a month's time, my work in Lux Aurea will be done and I will return to Katolis to continue training both of you. Understood?"

"Perfectly understood, Master Aurora," Natalia told her with a relieved sigh. "It's far more than I ever dared to hope for."

"Let us start now then, shall we?" Master Aurora suggested. Natalia looked over at her, and the Sunfire mage drew a strange, pale gold rune in the air. " _Lux._ " A single point of light appeared in the air above the Sunfire mage, shining down on the dining table. Prince Callum had also been watching with rapt interest.

"Magic," Master Aurora explained, "exists as a spark of power within the mage. The mage uses this connection to draw on the power of their arcanum around them. You may have noticed that you feel the strongest when the sun is high and weakest at night."

"I have," Natalia confirmed.

"Something similar is true for all primal sources. Sky magic is strongest in a storm, moon magic is strongest at the full moon, and ocean magic is strongest at high tide. When a mage casts a spell, they draw on this primal energy and channel it through their finger to etch an Ancient Draconic rune. The spell can then be triggered by chanting the Ancient Draconic phrase that corresponds with the rune, or sometimes by discharging the spell's energy through an object or medium."

"So like that time you zapped Derrick in the back?" Natalia asked, looking at Prince Callum.

"That's right," he confirmed. "I didn't need to say the trigger word because I could discharge the spell just by touching him."

Master Aurora lowered her hand and the light went out. "Good to see you're catching on. Now, I want you to copy me as I trace the spell." She moved her finger slowly, tracing the simple rune as Natalia concentrated and copied her movements, generating her own streaks of pale golden light. It was only a passable imitation, but it would serve. Next, Master Aurora instructed her, "The trigger word is _Lux_." Again, a single point of white light appeared in the air above her and faded away after a brief second.

Natalia cleared her throat. " _Lux_."

A small light, dimmer than Master Aurora's, flickered into existence above her, wavered for a couple of seconds, and went out.

"Your ability is indeed passable," Master Aurora told her, "especially for a beginner who's hardly had an Arcanum for a couple months at best."

"Speaking of which, how did you do it?" Prince Callum asked her. "I know you saw me use magic, but that can't have been all it took."

"It wasn't," she admitted. "I happened to be outside your room that night while you were talking with one of the men who came to the inn with you, and you told him about the primal sources and how you made your connection to the sky."

Prince Callum blinked in surprise. "You eavesdropped on us?"

She quickly bowed her head. "I'm sorry! I couldn't help myself! I heard him talking about how you can do magic and I just had to stop and listen!"

"No need to apologize," he assured her. "If it helped you that much, I'm glad you heard it."

Natalia could only smile helplessly. She was eating with royalty and elves and elven royalty, had just done her first spell, and was about to start training in the use of magic with a Sunfire Elf mage. If this was a dream, she never wanted to wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer chapter this time. I didn't want to stop writing. Of course politics would get in the way of Aurora just accepting Natalia without a little hesitation. Plus, it'll also tie in with additional events that will be occurring in the next several chapters.


	21. Life in the Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mostly a transitional chapter this time. Includes varying amounts of nervousness, adjustments, fluff, comfort, and word play.

Was it possible for Natalia to be even more nervous than she had been before she'd been accepted by Master Aurora?

Well, yes, it was, because how in the _world_ was she supposed to be at the king's birthday party all of a sudden?

King Ezran had assured her that she wouldn't have to stay for long, just long enough to be seen by everyone as the third human ever to connect to a primal source. Apparently the girl who had connected to the moon was also coming, and King Ezran wanted to use the opportunity to introduce both of them to all the nobles and foreign delegates who would be there. As such, she would have to practice a few things in order to become presentable, something that made her anxious to no end.

At least she was getting better. All the special treatment she'd been getting was just _unreal_. She'd only just started training to be a mage and yet she not only had a room to herself in the castle, but she also had fine clothes to wear from the royal seamstresses and had people calling her "Lady" Natalia! It had all been pretty overwhelming at first, but she was having an easier time coping with the sudden changes.

At least some people were easy to talk to, even if she had initially hesitated to speak with them. King Ezran occasionally sought her out to make sure she'd been treated fairly and had everything she needed, and his Crownguard, Soren, was snarky, but also funny and a bit of a goofball, so he wasn't too hard to get along with. Prince Callum had been supportive of her right from the start, and he similarly made regular checkups on her, usually with Lady Rayla at his elbow. She noticed that the two of them were almost always seen together, and for a little while she could only wonder why. Then she walked around a corner one day and found the two of them kissing.

"Oh, um...sorry for...interrupting," she stammered, embarrassed.

Both of them were blushing furiously. "Uh-ah-don't worry! It's not like you really-you know, interrupted anything important!" Prince Callum was talking very fast and with an anxious expression. Lady Rayla, on the other hand, looked absolutely mortified, and turned away, covering her red face with one hand.

"So...how long have you two been...?" Natalia asked.

Prince Callum managed to calm down a little. "Well, when we first met, Rayla was a member of a group of assassins sent to kill Dad and Ez as revenge for the Dragon King and the Dragon Prince's deaths. But then Ez found the egg of the Dragon Prince, and we decided it would be better for us to team up to bring him home. After three weeks of us saving each other more times than you can count, we finally figured out what it was that we were feeling and it just...happened."

"You mean _you_ figured out what was going on," Lady Rayla corrected, whacking him on the arm with the back of her hand. She told Natalia, "You have _no_ idea how dense this guy is. I'd been dropping hints for _days_ , and he didn't register any of them. Then, when we were in the middle of a desert oasis, right as I was feeling like I'd lost everything, this dummy takes down my hood, looks me in the eyes, and tells me I'm beautiful. And then he was surprised when I kissed him!"

Despite her unease around them, Natalia had to hold back a laugh. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. He _completely_ ruined the follow-up because he'd lost his ability to think properly, but he made up for it the next night."

"Only a few weeks though? That was fast."

"Well, it's like I said," Prince Callum told her. "We've seen each other through our worst times."

Natalia turned away a little. "Makes me wonder who _my_ destined partner is."

After that exchange, it had been a lot easier for her to open up to the two of them. That in turn made it a bit easier to open up to Soren and King Ezran, who shared in her embarrassment over the matter when she told them about it one night. Apparently both of them had been similarly surprised at their relationship when they'd just decided to kiss right in front of them with no prior warning. Apparently Soren had only known they were together since the last solstice even though King Ezran had claimed they were being completely obvious about it when they'd been around, so she decided to add 'dense' to his list of traits.

Natalia shook herself out of her thoughts. She was supposed to be focusing on her spellcasting. She looked down at the notes that Prince Callum had drawn up for her on the different runes that she was supposed to be learning. She didn't really have a problem with the magic itself, but her rune drawing had a tendency to be a bit scrappy, so she was grateful for the prince's help, especially since his artistic talent had given him such an advantage in the use of magic early into his training. Also his photographic memory. And the fact that he'd connected to two different primal sources like it was nothing. Wow. She really had nothing on a guy who could shoot lighning from his fingertips.

Even so, she was still improving. Natalia had been practicing for the last week until she managed to consistently get right all of the simple runes that Master Arbora had given her to study. At first, she'd wanted to draw them as fast as possible, but Master Arbora had shut her down on that, telling her that making sure she could perform her spells was more important than how fast she drew the runes. Corin had told her he'd had to keep at it until he could draw them with his eyes closed, so now she did the same. Tracing the rune slowly, she completed the spell with the corresponding word in Ancient Draconic.

" _Calore._ "

An aura of warmth enveloped her in the cold library, flickered, and faded. Natalia let out a sigh. She still couldn't do it as well as she wanted, but she was making progress. Natalia decided to go through all the spells she'd learned in quick succession, to further ingrain them into her memory. Her eyes open now, she began to trace the runes.

" _Lux._ "

A point of white light appeared above her hand. She poured in more magic and the light brightened. She pulled back on the magic, and it dimmed. She closed her hand, the light went out, and she drew the next rune.

" _Ignis._ "

A tiny flame appeared in the air above her finger. Adding a tiny bit more magic, she made the flame brighter. Then she extinguished that too and started drawing again.

" _Calore._ "

An aura of warmth covered her body, stronger than when she'd tried to draw the rune with her eyes closed. If she could manage to draw the runes right, her control of the magic itself was probably the area where she was best. So much so, in fact, that Master Aurora had given her a little extra challenge a little earlier than usual. Natalia packed up her notes and left the library, not long after arriving at the infirmary.

"Miss Natalia!" Dr. Rebekah greeted her jovially as she entered.

"Dr. Rebekah, hi! Anyone else in today?" she greeted the castle doctor just as brightly.

"Just a couple soldiers who had a sparring match that was a little too overenthusiastic. One sprained her ankle, and the other has a few too many contusions along his left side," the doctor reported. "You think you could give them a little boost?"

"That's why I came," Natalia replied, motioning for the doctor to show her the way. Both of them were sitting on beds at the front of the ward with the injured areas displayed. They looked up as Natalia and Doctor Rebekah walked in. 

"Miss Natalia, hi!"

"Hey, Miss Natalia! Mind giving us a quick heal so we can get back to our guard duties?"

The guards in general had all warmed up to her rather quickly, especially the women. Natalia suspected this was because they all knew she was a country girl and the other women had demanded the men give her some space. She was also grateful that they called her 'miss' rather than 'lady'. Natalia gave them a small smile, put down her books and notes, pushed back the sleeves of her dress, and moved to treat the woman with the sprained ankle first.

" _Calore Sanitatem._ "

The two runes turned into a warm golden glow that spread across the woman's ankle, easing her pain and repairing the damaged tissue. This had been the most complicated spell she'd learned, but once she'd managed to draw the rune correctly, it was a simple matter to channel her magic through it. According to Master Aurora, it was one of the simplest possible healing spells, and while it could only heal minor damage, it was still easy enough for a beginner like herself to master. This way, she could both increase her magical skill and help people at the same time.

Once she'd finished and bid everyone at the infirmary farewell, she resolved herself to find herself some food. Lunch was coming up and using magic, even at noon, was tiring and hungry work.

* * *

Queen Janai asked her high mage, "What has Miss Natalia's progress been like so far?"

Lady Aurora answered, "She has some trouble with drawing the runes themselves, but in harnessing the magic, she's quite skilled. She took to that healing spell I gave her like a bird to the sky, and now she makes daily visits to the infirmary to heal anyone who comes in with injuries. She hasn't even considered asking me how to use magic in combat yet."

"To think that yet another human would appear with an Arcanum," Earthblood Lord Heath remarked.

Lord Alder agreed, "Aye, it's unbelievable. After all this time, suddenly three humans can use magic without primal stones? And two of them essentially learned their Arcanums all on their own with no real instruction or training?" He shook his head in wonder and disbelief. "And here I thought coming to the human king's birthday would just be a polite formality."

"Are you wondering if someone who has an interest in learning the Earth Arcanum will appear?" Lady Aurora asked.

The two Earthblood Lords looked at each other. "Well," Lord Alder conceded, "it would be nice to have our own Arcanum represented among the humans. It could improve our own territories' relations to the humans if that were the case, and peaceful relations are the goal for all of us."

"Our good relations to humans could also improve our status compared to the other Earthblood Lords as well," Lord Heath suggested. "Though I feel that many would still be apprehensive about how humans would treat this power that they're suddenly being given."

"In time, if enough of them learn to use magic, there probably won't be much difference between the humans and the elves," Queen Janai stated.

"You have a point there," Lord Heath admitted. "The reason elves and dragons looked down on them in the beginning was because they had no magic."

Lord Alder nodded. "Also, if enough humans can connect to their own Arcana, they'll eventually get rid of dark magic entirely. So I say get as many of them to connect to their own magic as possible so they'll never want to go back to it."

"Agreed," Queen Janai added. "A much better way to get rid of dark magic than just wiping out all the humans who practice it."

"Though I can think of one who definitely needs to be," Lord Heath remarked darkly.

The four elves were silent. Lord Alder sighed. "The wyrm sent its shades to stir unrest and even stage a coup here in Katolis just before the solstice. And now, another human has learned a Primal Arcanum. Furthermore, we have been treated with naught but the utmost courtesy since we arrived here. All in all, if peace really is the goal here, then it probably couldn't really be going better."

"Actually," Lady Aurora corrected, "peace would be going better if there wasn't a dark mage and a wyrm still in Xadian territory sending shades into Katolis to try and turn humans and elves against each other even more. What couldn't be going much better is our progress towards good relations between the two sides of the continent."

"So," Queen Janai ventured, "If you wish to spread your own Arcanum among the humans, how do you plan on doing that? I note that you didn't bring any mages with you."

"You mentioned that Prince Callum has been assisting Miss Natalia in his studies?" Lord Alder asked.

"That's correct," Lady Aurora told them.

"He seems to have a great interest in magic of all kinds," Lord Heath observed.

"Then if we can tell him what the Earth Arcanum means," Lord Alder suggested, "he could teach the humans how to connect to the Earth Arcanum as well!"

"And you are not worried about him ending up like Aaravos?" Lady Aurora countered. Lord Alder's eyes widened and he immediately froze.

"I do not think that is a legitimate concern," Queen Janai objected. "He only connected to the moon out of necessity, and even if Prince Callum did manage to gain all six Arcana, I highly doubt that he will end up as another Aaravos."

* * *

Evin could hardly believe that the girl from that inn had connected to the sun on her own, and so quickly too. He would be lying if he'd said that he didn't feel even a twinge of jealousy. Whatever the case, he felt like he was making a little progress with his own attempts. He had no idea how he would know he'd connected to the earth, but whatever it was like, it probably meant more than he already knew.

Evin was many things. He'd been a woodcutter, a carpenter, a hunter, and a tracker, so he ought to know the earth fairly well. He could look at animals' footprints and trails and even those of people and figure out where they were going, where they ate and rested, and even what their habits and mindsets were like. The forest itself was his territory, and he could figure out anything that happened in it.

Evin's thoughts ground to a halt as he realized. The Earth Arcanum was about more than just the woods. There were also the fields, the mountains, the cliffs, the deserts. It was about the whole Earth and all its systems and how they all lived in balance, with both the rock and soil and all the living things that lived on top of it. Evin didn't know how he would make the connection or what it would feel like. But he did know that he was well on his way.


	22. Ezran's birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another transitional chapter. Not sure how important this stuff will be, but at the very least, I'll make it fluff.

Callum had just finished greeting everyone at the entrance of the ballroom when Rayla managed to find her way to his side. "You doing alright after greeting all those stuffy officials?" she asked him.

"I'm fine," he assured her. "That dress looks really good on you."

"You'd say that even if it didn't," she accused.

"No, because if it didn't, I'd tell the seamstresses to go back and get you something that did," he told her.

"Hmph, well someone's gotten right back into the life of a stuck-up prince."

Rayla's dress was simpler than the one she'd worn for Ezran's coronation, a slim yet elegant piece of green fabric with half sleeves that left her forearms open to be adorned by a pair of silver bracelets. Callum's own outfit was similarly less stiff and formal, more appropriate for his brother's birthday.

Rayla continued, "Well, I for one think you look much better in normal clothes than any of these fancy bits could ever make you look."

"I certainly _feel_ better in normal clothes," he remarked. "Anyway, everyone's here and it's almost time. Are Natalia and Ellis around?"

"They're waiting with Ez just inside the banquet hall," Rayla reported. "I'll watch the fun from here, so get going."

"Thanks," he told her, giving her a brief peck on the cheek before wading out into the crowd to go find Ez. A few minutes later, the doors of the balcony over the ballroom opened and Ez, Callum, Ellis, and Natalia stepped out. The king was met with cheers as he showed himself, and he raised his hands to signal for them to quiet down.

"Before we head into the banquet hall and begin the feast, I would just like to say a few brief words of thanks to all of you for coming to my birthday this evening. In addition, I have a little surprise announcement that I feel the time is now right for me to make. As you are all well aware, my brother, Prince Callum, less than a year ago became the first human in history to connect to a Primal Arcanum, the sky."

Callum raised one hand, showing off a few arcs of electricity that jumped across his knuckles and ran down his fingers, the lightning casting a vibrant, almost living glow on the half-lit ballroom.

"Until recently, he was the only one to have done so. But now, not one, but two others have also succeeded in forging connections to their own Primal Arcanums. Miss Ellis here has connected to the moon, and Miss Natalia has connected to the sun. Both of them have begun training in their respective Primal Sources, and as such, I will allow them to demonstrate before you all." He stepped aside and let the two girls step forward. 

Ellis was on her toes and clearly excited about performing her magic in front of everyone, especially since she'd had the opportunity to put on a nice-looking silver and green dress for the occasion. Natalia, in contrast, was more shy and reserved, probably because she still had the mindset of a simple innkeeper's daughter, but she was still fairly charming in her golden dress and amber earrings. Ellis cracked her knuckles and started tracing her rune first.

" _Lumen!_ "

Several balls of soft white moonlight sprang from her outstretched hand and floated to key positions around the ballroom, lighting up the room far better than the candles and lanterns would have been able to, and with a gentle white light very reminiscent of moonlight. Natalia then started tracing her own rune.

" _Calore._ "

The chill of the night air was immediately banished as a comforting warm glow enveloped everyone in the ballroom. Now, even those who hadn't reacted to Ellis' light show were standing in awe, wondering where all the cold air had gone. After all, it was still March, and even those standing by the open windows couldn't feel the cold of the open air.

Finally, Ezran stepped forward again to deliver the final words of his announcement. "Tonight, we don't just celebrate my birth, but also the birth of a new age, where humans and elves can work towards coexisting in peace. Thank you." Rayla smiled as the king and the three human mages walked off the balcony to the audience's applause.

* * *

The big banquet hall had been almost filled that night. Natalia still couldn't believe how many people turned up to see King Ezran's eleventh birthday. She also couldn't believe that she was wearing something as nice as this dress, that she was even at King Ezran's birthday party, or that she had just done _real magic_ in front of everyone there. If anyone in the past had told her that she was going to do all that, she would have thought them insane.

And yet, here she was, enjoying delicious food with the upper classmen of the world and chatting with a girl around the king's age about magic. "So the Moon Arcanum is more about appearances and reality, while the Sun Arcanum is more about heat, light, and purity," she concluded.

"That sounds about right," Ellis said brightly. "Hey, when do you think Callum's going to connect to the sun too?"

"Wait, what?" Natalia almost dropped her fork. "Who said he's going to connect to the sun?"

"Well, he connected to the Moon Arcanum not long after he learned I had," Ellis told her. "So now that you're here and you've learned the Sun Arcanum, maybe he'll want to learn it too."

"I...don't think I heard the part about him connecting to multiple Arcana is all."

"Well, he's mostly been focusing on sky magic, so it's understandable. You wouldn't _believe_ the kinds of things he can do now. Forget the lightning hands, he can give people these cool wind auras that make them move faster, turn his arms into wings, create ice with his breath, and cast the coolest lightning tricks you've ever seen. I can't wait for when I get to his level. I'll be able to create some really cool illusions once I do."

Natalia laughed a little nervously. Prince Callum really was powerful. "Well, good luck with that. I'm not sure I'll ever really get to his level, but I'll certainly do my best."

"Speaking of which, what sorts of spells have you been learning?" Ellis asked. "I know you've only had your Arcanum for a little while, but you did that warmth spell, so clearly you've had some training."

"So far, I know four spells. One for heat, one for light, one that creates fire, and one that heals."

"Well, you know more spells than Callum did when he first started out. When we met almost a year ago, he was still using a Primal Stone and only knew a wind breath spell and a lightning spell."

"I don't think I know what a Primal Stone is just yet."

Ellis' three-legged wolf poked her head between the two girls and whined. Apparently, she'd finished the food she'd been eating on the floor behind them. Ellis laughed and fluffed her companion. "Maybe I should start closer to the beginning."

* * *

Once dinner was over, Natalia found herself back in the ballroom with all the nobles and delegates who'd turned up for the party. Ellis had wandered over to King Ezran's group, which also included Prince Callum, Lady Rayla, and General Amaya, and since Natalia didn't really have anyone better to be with, she followed. The group were talking with one of the lords who'd engaged King Ezran and Prince Callum specifically in conversation.

"Your father would be proud of the king you've become, King Ezran," the man gushed.

"Thank you, Lord Tarren," King Ezran answered him. "And I know he'll always be with me."

"Naturally," the lord replied. "But I can't help but want to do everything I can to assist as you go through these trying times. Especially with your half-brother off in Xadia mastering magic. Perhaps when he comes home for good, I can introduce him to my daughter?"

Oh, so that's where this was going.

"No need, Lord Tarren," Prince Callum declined. "It is my duty as prince to support my brother even while I am away, and even if it was not a duty that I asked for, I still have plenty of people with me to support me in this endeavor."

Lord Tarren bowed. "Ah, yes. How could I forget? Well, I believe I should be going now. I have things that I must discuss with the other lords after all. I do hope you find some people to fill the open council seats." He plodded away.

"Um, is it alright for me to join you?" Natalia asked.

"Please do," King Ezran told her. "I could do with talking to someone without ulterior motives."

Natalia didn't really know how to respond, so she just curtsied and joined them. Before long, the group was joined by another pair of groups: Queen Janai's Sunfire Elves and a pair of Earthblood Lords that were visiting from Xadia for the first time.

Once they had finished greeting each other, King Ezran asked, "I hope that you have been well-treated?"

"Better than we expected to be, at any rate," the one calling himself Alder replied. "Our cultures are still rather different despite the easing hostilities, but the people here were surprisingly understanding about any issues that it caused."

"I'm glad to hear that," the king told them. 

"And these two young ladies are Miss Ellis and Miss Natalia?" asked the other Earthblood Lord, whose name Natalia remembered was Heath. "I will admit, when I heard that Prince Callum was able to do magic without a Primal Stone, I told myself either it was a hoax or the prince had some sort of elvish blood. But with two more successful cases of humans learning primal magic, and one of them entirely independently if what I hear from Lady Aurora is true, I'm afraid that I am forced to eat both my words and my pride."

"You've only had your Arcanum for a couple weeks and you're already showing me up?" Ellis asked Natalia indignantly.

"Well, you did choose the Moon Arcanum," Natalia pointed out, "and from what you've told me, the moon isn't as straightforward as the sun. At least you've had a few months more training than me and made your connection before you hit your growth spurt."

Chuckles went around the group at this exchange of banter. "And what of your own connections, Prince Callum?" Lord Alder asked.

Prince Callum answered, "I'm not entirely sure how far into my own training I am with Master Ibis. He claimed that normally, a mage requires at least three years of study and practice before they can be considered a full-fledged sky mage, but he's also been saying recently that he's been running out of things to teach me. I've already mastered Mage Wings, and that's one of the most advanced spells that sky mages ever learn."

"Admittedly, your abilities in that area are astounding, particularly with how reports claim that you've mastered intermediate-level spells after only seeing them done once," Lord Alder told him. "And what of your connection to the Moon Arcanum?"

Prince Callum scratched the back of his head. "I don't think that I'll start training in moon magic for a while. I promised my brother that I would come home once I had learned all the sky magic that I could, and delaying that to learn moon magic when it's not strictly necessary is a burden that I don't want to put on him."

"So you don't wish to connect to all the Arcana either?" Lord Heath pressed.

"Not really," the Prince replied. "It would certainly be nice to connect to every Primal Source, but I can hardly expect the opportunity will come up. Besides, I'm not about to leave my brother behind to deal with all of Katolis' problems on his own while I go running off to the corners of the earth looking for more magic."

The elves seemed surprised, pleased, and somewhat relieved by this answer. "All of elvenkind will be glad to hear that," Queen Janai told them. "We wouldn't want you to turn against us like Aaravos did."

"Aaravos?" Natalia asked before anyone else could. "Who's that?"

Master Aurora looked at her sadly and then addressed all the humans together. "Aaravos was a Startouch Elf, and one of the most brilliant mages and even elves in general who'd ever lived. Over his thousands of years of life, he'd managed to connect to all six primals, but around three hundred years ago, at the start of King Avizandum's reign, he betrayed the elves and tried to get the humans to overthrow Xadia. It was revealed that he'd been fraternizing with dark mages since the Judgement of the Half Moon and before, and as punishment, Avizandum imprisoned him somewhere only he knew where, with a single mirror being the only link to that place."

Amaya started signing, and Gren translated, "Three hundred years ago? That was around the same time Katolis was founded."

"Probably thanks to him, for what it's worth," Queen Janai admitted. "The queen of Lux Aurea at the time was my grandmother, Queen Aditi. No one knows what happened to her, but everyone suspected dark magic, although it is possible that Aaravos could have also been to blame."

"You said that a mirror was the link to Aaravos' prison though?" King Ezran suddenly asked. When Queen Janai confirmed this, he continued, "Well, when I had the Order of the Broken Chains clear out Viren's chambers, study, and secret dungeon, they found a big mirror in one of the cells, as well as a table and a chair. We didn't know what it was for or why it was down there, so we put it in the vault with the rest of Viren's dark magic artifacts until we could have them sent to Lux Aurea for purification."

"The dark mage that attacked the Storm Spire had taken the Mirror of Aaravos after he killed Avizandum!?" Lord Heath was incredulous. "If Aaravos was able to communicate with him through the mirror, then it's no wonder he was able to get so far into Xadia!"

"Lord Heath!" Master Aurora hissed. The hulking Earthblood Lord caught himself and quieted down.

Queen Janai told them, "I want to see this mirror tomorrow. If it is indeed the Mirror of Aaravos, we shall discuss our plans further then. Now is not the time."

"Agreed," Prince Callum said. Natalia also understood. Too many open ears and loose tongues would not be beneficial.

"At any rate, enjoy the rest of the evening," Gren translated for General Amaya. "I think I'll go and check on the vault, make sure it's still secure."

"Yes, please do," King Ezran agreed. When the general left, he asked, "Now, where were we before we started talking about Aaravos?"

"Primal sources," Lady Rayla answered.

"Ah, yes," Lord Alder picked up. "Is there anyone in your kingdom who would be willing to learn the Earth Arcanum? We wouldn't want to feel left out, what with the sun, moon, and sky already being represented in the human kingdoms."

Ezran grinned. "Maybe me? I can already talk to animals."

The Earthblood Lords exchanged surprised looks just as Natalia also looked at the boy king with shock. "Surprising isn't it, the first time you hear it?" Ellis asked.

"You knew about this?" Natalia asked, bewildered.

"Sure. I was there when he first explained that he could. Heck, I was there when the Dragon Prince hatched, and it was Ez who told us what his name was."

"How did he know?"

"The dragon told him, silly!"

Lord Heath started to chuckle helplessly, and Lord Alder said, "Animals do fall into a category of the Earth Arcanum, but there's much more to it than just flora and fauna. It has as much to do with the soil, the rocks, and everything under the earth as much as all the living things that walk or grow on it."

"Tell me more," the young king said. The Earthblood Lord obliged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was honestly surprised when the mirror was brought up in the last conversation. I guess my goal of surprising myself with my own writing has been achieved. Anyway, several events have now been set into motion. Leave your thoughts in the comments. I can't get enough comments, and I read every single one.
> 
> Also, Lord Tarren is a reference to a character of the same name in another fanfic that I enjoyed, but I don't remember which one, because I have a bunch bookmarked and he's only a minor character. If anyone can remind me so I can give them shout-outs, that would be nice.


	23. Dark Mirrors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callum decides to see the mirror transported back to Lux Aurea and from there to the Storm Spire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. Life caught up to me and I had some trouble with the pacing of the chapter.

Amaya pulled the vault door open, allowing Callum, Janai, Rayla, Ezran, and the Earthblood Lords inside. Viren's dark artifacts were all piled on a shelf at the back of the tiny room, with his staff leaning against the shelf and the mirror standing next to it against the wall. The mirror was a fancy, full-body mirror with Ancient Draconic runes around the border.

Lord Heath hissed, "It _is_ the Mirror of Aaravos."

"Well, what do we do with it then?" Rayla asked.

"We should get it back to the Storm Spire," Janai told them. "We can bring the dark mage's artifacts to Lux Aurea to destroy them on the way."

"Sounds like a plan," Callum commented.

Gren translated for Amaya, "I must say, I'm glad you're able to take all of this stuff off our hands. Good riddance to that man and every piece of dark magic he ever came up with."

"Sounds like you had a history with this dark mage," Lord Alder noted.

Gren translated, "His obsession with using dark magic to solve all his problems is the reason I lost my sister. He told Harrow to blame Thunder, which only ended with both of them dead. I already didn't trust him when he dragged Harrow into a mission to kill the King of the Dragons, but it got even worse when he took advantage of Harrow's death and the Princes' disappearance to seize power. So yes, good riddance." Amaya was looking angry just remembering the man.

"Well, then it is no wonder you were so keen to stop him when you learned he arrived in Lux Aurea," Janai noted.

"Tell us about that later," Lord Heath interrupted. "We should get this up to the courtyard."

* * *

The wyrm's coils piled into the mess hall where Viren and Claudia were having breakfast. Ever since the cave, Claudia had been worried that she wasn't getting enough food, so her plate was piled high with Xadian fruits and things they'd gathered from the woods. Viren, on the other hand, hardly ate at all ever since he'd been brought back.

"A quick moment of your time, both of you," the creature drawled, sounding very pleased.

"What is it?" Viren demanded.

"I just had a peek through the mirror," it continued, "because I noticed something on the other side. It seems that the mirror and several other artifacts of varying importance were stored in a vault somewhere in Katolis. The artifacts included your staff."

Viren's eyebrows shot up. "How can we retrieve it?" he demanded.

"Patience, Viren," the wyrm reminded him. "We can retrieve that staff. It seems that the elves will be taking both the mirror and the staff. The Sunfire Elves, specifically."

"So what does that mean?" Claudia asked.

"It means that if the elves are taking the mirror and the staff, they will try to return the mirror to the Storm Spire. The staff, on the other hand, they will try to destroy. And if that is their goal, there is only one place that they would take it."

Viren curled his hands into fists and ground his teeth. "Lux Aurea."

* * *

The Inferno Tigers hadn't been comfortable with dark magic items being tied to their saddlebags. Apparently they could smell dark magic fairly well, though not as well as dragons. The mirror stood off to one side where one of the biggest cats had dropped it off before it landed. The Earthblood Lords had stayed behind at the castle for a little longer before they also departed, but the Sunfire Elves now had the mirror and Viren's dark artifacts as their priority.

Callum and Rayla landed next to the group of agitated Inferno Tigers at the entrance of Lux Aurea. The Sunforge at the top of the highest tower was almost completely purified, now only bearing a thin halo of darkness around a fairly constant golden core.

"It's gotten fairly late, and we're all tired," Janai called to the rest of the group. "We'll have a meal and then some rest. Especially those of us who will be taking the mirror to the Storm Spire tomorrow."

Aurora said nothing as she dismounted her own Inferno Tiger and handed her off to one of the stablehands.

"Are you worried about Corin?" Callum ventured.

The Sunfire Mage looked at him. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't," she admitted. "A millennium of hatred is not so easily forgotten."

"Ez and Natalia will be looking out for him," Rayla reassured her. "And don't forget Sabah either."

Sabah had been one of the warriors who'd accompanied Queen Janai's entourage to Katolis for Ezran's birthday. She'd been getting fairly close to Marcos, a reinstated member of the Crownguard, in the days following the Battle of the Storm Spire, and Rayla suspected she'd mostly accompanied them because she'd wanted to see him again. Rayla remembered the evening they'd arrived in Katolis, after Callum and Aurora had gone to meet Natalia. Sabah had discreetly asked if Rayla knew anything about him. Rayla had happily told him Marcos had been the first to reject Viren's campaign against Xadia. After that, Rayla had a sneaky suspicion that the two of them were going to form human/elf couple number two.

"My gratitude for your reassurance," the mage told Rayla. Then she went inside.

Callum walked over to the mirror, which was shrouded in a dark cloth. His expression was a combination of melancholy and apprehensive, as though he was facing a truth that could be painful, but he didn't know yet. Rayla walked over and took his hand. Rayla's look was questioning, but Callum's responding glance was closed off. He wasn't ready to talk about whatever was bothering him yet. He turned away from the mirror, and the pair followed the Sunfire Elves into the palace.

* * *

Callum and Rayla had been given the same rooms as they had the first time they'd visited Lux Aurea. Callum had pushed the window open so he could feel the wind. After standing at the windowsill for a minute or two just looking out across the city, he returned his attention to the room and sat down on the bed next to Rayla.

"You ready to tell me what's been bothering you?" Rayla probed.

Callum let out a sigh. "It's just...I can't help but wonder who Aaravos is. In my dad's last letter to me, he told me about the Key of Aaravos, that it supposedly unlocked something of great power in Xadia." He brought out the cube and set it on the bedside table. The sky, sun, and moon runes were all glowing. "He told me that Aaravos was a master of all six Primal Sources. But now, I'm hearing about him from the elves, and it's like, they're so afraid of him that this mirror takes priority over anything else. And then there's those questions the Earthblood Lords asked me, about my two Arcana and whether I would connect to any more. They were afraid I was going to turn out like him, weren't they?"

Rayla paused. "Callum, I..." She honestly didn't know what to say.

Callum gave her a sad smile. "Sorry. I guess what I'm trying to say is, whatever Aaravos did, whatever made the elves fear him that much, I don't want to end up like that."

"You won't," Rayla told him. Her voice was firm and certain. "You're not that kind of person. You're the kindest, funniest, dorkiest human I've ever met, and every time you've really used your magic, it's been to save people. And even if you did start to go that way," here she stood up and turned to face Callum head-on, "I'd be there to make sure you don't."

Callum smiled up at his beloved. "Thanks for always believing in me, Rayla."

"You were there for me when I was at my lowest," she reminded him. "So I'll be there for you."

She leaned in and kissed him. Her hands caressed his hair, and his went around her waist. In that moment, Callum _needed_ her, needed her to know how much he loved her. Then their lips parted.

"Do you want to cuddle for a little while before dinner?" he asked.

She smiled at him. "Sure, Callum."

* * *

The Storm Spire was silent when Janai, Callum, and Rayla arrived the next day. The small group landed with no trouble, Janai's Inferno Tiger dropping off the mirror first before landing.

"I'll go inform the Dragon Queen that we've come back," Rayla said before darting inside.

"Shall I help you with the mirror then?" Callum asked Janai.

"Please," the Sunfire Queen replied.

Callum moved to take one side of it, but just that moment, there was a sound like the flapping of great wings. When Callum paused to try and figure out what it was, a massive golden dragon shot up past the precipice. His vast wings stretched out as he slowed in the air and hovered in place, arching his neck to display the scarred, destroyed tissue around his eyes that marked him as a symbol of rage and bitterness for a thousand years.

"FILTHY, EVIL HUMAN!" Sol Regem roared. The spaces between the scales on his throat lit up with golden fire as he charged up his breath.

"DIE!"


	24. Dragon Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can Sol Regem be convinced of anything anymore?

" _Ventus Deflecto!_ "

Callum channelled his spell into a tight vortex, catching Sol Regem's breath and casting it off to the side of the Storm Spire. The Archdragon's breath was spent, but the dragon was still massive and could still squish Callum like a bug. Sol Regem dropped out of the sky, following Callum's scent and voice, aiming to kill him. Callum jumped off the edge just before Sol Regem slammed into it, even as Janai shot inside to avoid the blind Archdragon's rampage.

" _Manus, Pluma, Volantus!_ "

Callum spun in the air and flared out his mage wings, halting his descent and beginning to climb back into the sky. Sol Regem turned and tried to swat him with his tail, but Callum was far more nimble in the air than the blind dragon, and he was easily able to avoid him. Callum continued to climb, headed for the Pinnacle. Callum landed at the top of the Storm Spire to catch his breath right as the Archdragon flew up behind him.

"Nowhere to run, human," Sol Regem growled, lifting a hand the size of a carriage and preparing to attack once again.

" _SOL REGEM!_ " came a roar from the entrance to the Dragon Queen's lair. Zubeia landed on the Pinnacle opposite of Sol Regem, almost on top of Callum. Callum had never seen her this angry. Her eyes glowed with sky blue energy, and her entire body crackled with electricity. "I told you what would happen if you tried to take matters into your own hands," she hissed.

"Zubeia," Sol Regem rumbled in response. "Have you lost your senses? This human has done dark magic. The reek of it is upon him even now."

Callum cringed in fear. He'd done everything he could to avoid talking about that, and Sol Regem had put it out there just like that. He waited for Zubeia to step on him.

Instead, the Dragon Queen said, "I should ask you the same thing, Sol Regem. Yes, I could smell dark magic on him from the start, but if you were to inspect him again, you would learn that his scent bears something far more valuable."

The Sun Archdragon hesitated for a moment before landing carefully on the edge of the Pinnacle opposite her. Callum stepped forward nervously, allowing his mage wings to fade back into his arms. Sol Regem inhaled deeply through his nose, paused, and then sniffed again, more forcefully. "Wind and thunder!?" he demanded. "And what is this? Moonlight?"

"Your nose does not deceive you, Sol Regem," the Dragon Queen asserted. "This human prince has connected to not one, but two Arcana. In fact, he should have already had one when you first met."

"Even if he has connected to primal magic," Sol Regem snarled, "that does not excuse the use of dark magic."

"No," Callum told the Archdragon, "It doesn't. I didn't want to use dark magic, but I didn't have a choice."

"You _always_ have a choice," the Sol Regem stubbornly insisted.

"Even if it meant an elf and a dragon were going to die!?" Callum demanded.

Sol Regem was silent. Then the dragon asked. "What happened?"

Callum took a deep breath and began to give his story. "Some humans had shot down a dragon that attacked a town close to the border of Xadia. Two of them were childhood friends of mine who were trying to stop us from getting the Dragon Prince back to Xadia, and one of them was a dark mage. Rayla, the elf who was guiding us, decided to try and free the dragon, but I knew that she would only end up getting herself killed. So I followed her down to where the dragon crashed, took a snake's belly from the dark mage's bag, and used it to turn the dragon's chains into snakes and release her. I don't really remember what happened after that because I collapsed almost immediately afterward."

"And this is the only time you ever used dark magic?" Sol Regem questioned.

"Yes."

"And you are certain that there was nothing else you could have done?"

"I'm useless with weapons, so there's no way I could have saved them that way. And this was after I smashed a Sky Primal Stone to hatch the Dragon Prince but before I connected to the Sky Arcanum, so I had no other magical means of interfering."

"You had a Sky Primal Stone, but then smashed it to hatch the Dragon Prince?"

Callum sighed. "The egg was dying and we had no other way to hatch it."

Sol Regem grumbled in his throat as he pieced together the information Callum had given him. "I do not blame you for making the sacrifices you did," the old Archdragon said slowly, "but the fact remains that you used dark magic, and I will not tolerate it on the Xadian side of the border. You must be purified."

"You chose to attack a human who gave me back my son rather than actual dark mages who actually invaded our lands," Zubeia reminded him. "If you care so much about ridding Xadia of dark magic, then why don't you hunt down the dark mages who brought it into Xadia?"

"I will," Sol Regem rumbled, "after this human has been purified and sent back to the human lands where he belongs. One human doing good is not enough to quench my hatred for dark magic. He should count himself lucky that I even deigned to listen to his story."

"Good thing you did, too," Callum told him. "My brother's the King of Katolis now. He's probably the biggest advocate on our side of the border for peace between humans and Xadia. And with three humans having connected to Primal Sources now, we're about to start stamping out dark magic as well."

Sol Regem growled. "Stop piling on your fantasies, human. The world does not change in only a single year."

"I hope you'll forgive me for proving you wrong," Callum said calmly.

Sol Regem was silent for a moment. "We shall see," he finally said. Then he spread his wings and leapt into the air before hovering in place above the Storm Spire. "I will wait for you tomorrow at noon at the top of Lux Aurea. You will be purified and free of dark magic. After which, you will return to the human side of the border, and I will never find your scent on the Xadian side of the border ever again."

Sol Regem flew away, back towards Lux Aurea. Callum slumped on the ground and Zubeia let out a sigh of relief. Her eyes had long since returned to normal and the electricity around her body had faded. "It was lucky that I interfered when I did," the Dragon Queen remarked.

"You knew?" he asked her weakly.

"I did," Zubeia told him. "Not at first, but in time, I knew. But since the scent was old and faint and overlaid with the scent of the Sky Arcanum, I disregarded it. After all, you did bring Azymondias back to me."

Callum could barely form a coherent thought. "Thank you," was all he could get out.

"Callum!" Rayla's voice came from the stairs. Callum's girlfriend dashed up the last flight and threw herself into Callum's arms. They clung to each other like their lives depended on it. Rayla was trembling, on the verge of tears.

Zubeia told them, "Once you've calmed down, meet me in my chambers. We have a few things to discuss." Then she flew away.

Callum patted Rayla on the back. "I guess it was too much to hope that he would leave us alone."

Rayla gave a small, hiccuping laugh. "Yeah, especially after you trapped his horns in a rock arch."

Callum gave a snort of laughter at the memory. "Yeah. And you took my scarf and got him to chase you and almost got crushed by falling rocks. At least this time you didn't have to try to sacrifice yourself for me."

"Yeah, you do that so much more dramatically than I do," Rayla joked, loosening her grip so she could look him in the eyes. "First with the dark magic, then with jumping off the Pinnacle. What are you going to do next, actually get struck by lightning?"

Callum wanted to kiss her so badly, but he barely held back. "If you're ready, we should probably go down."

"Yeah, we should," she agreed. She wasn't moving her hands, which were still wrapped around his midsection.

* * *

Everyone had gathered in the Queen's chamber when Callum and Rayla finally managed to come down from the Pinnacle. Callum looked at each of them as he and Rayla descended the steps. Zubeia's expression was sad and resigned, as was Ibis'. Nimbus was shocked and Arda looked betrayed, as did the Sunfire Elves, Fynn and Alina. Peter, the other Earthblood Elf, looked angry, but Tychus, the Moonshadow Elf, had a look of cold fury on his face far more terrifying than Peter's. Janai on the other hand looked confused, probably because she hadn't been around for what they were about to discuss.

"Come, sit by me," Zubeia told them. The couple obliged, sitting at the edge of the nest, as far from Tychus as they could get. Zubeia spoke again, "Let me start by filling in these two of what transpired while they were gone. Only a few hours after they left the Storm Spire, Sol Regem arrived here and demanded an audience. At first, I refused, telling him I wanted nothing to do with him. When he insisted the next day, I told him to his face that I knew of the incident where he confronted the both of you and my son at the border, and how he'd said that either only the human had to die, or all of them would."

"Sounds fair," Tychus muttered under his breath.

"Say anything like that again and I will personally throw you off the Pinnacle," Zubeia spat at him. Tychus froze at her voice. Everyone was glaring at _him_ now.

Zubeia continued. "Sol Regem told me that the human was a dark mage. I told him that he had no excuse for trying to kill my son. The discussion broke down into an argument, during which, I informed him of everything that happened since his little encounter. He seemed especially struck by the fact that a dark mage had invaded Xadia right under his nose and that it was human reinforcements that brought down his armies, and that a dark mage and their familiar are still hiding in Xadia somewhere in the north. After this, he left, swearing to take matters into his own claws.

"Which brings us to today. All of the Dragonguard have guessed by now that it was Callum and Rayla that we were discussing and that Callum had performed dark magic in the past." Here, Janai raised her eyebrows in shock. "So, Callum, would you care to share the entire story?"

Callum swallowed nervously, trying to think of what he was going to say. Finally, he asked, "If there was someone you wanted to save, but you didn't have the ability to help them, what would you do?"

Tychus snorted. "I can't believe this-" He was cut off by a glare from Ibis.

Arda answered, "I suppose we could give any number of answers to that, but I think what we all want to hear is what did _you_ do?"

"Well, you all know how we hatched Azymondias, right?" Callum asked. "I broke a Primal Stone to create a storm capable of hatching the egg. Well, as you probably already know, magic is one of the only things I'm good at. And since I no longer had a Primal Stone, I was back to being useless. I'd been looking for a way I could connect to the Sky Primal directly, but back then, I hadn't even known if it was possible. So there I was, a dragon shot down by humans and chained up on the ground, with Rayla being noble and self-sacrificing as usual trying to fight off the humans and free her all by herself. I had no magic, no sword skills, no real physical strength, and no one to help me. Put yourself in that situation for a moment. What would you do?"

This time, the room was silent as everyone contemplated the hopeless situation. Everyone except Peter and Tychus, that is, who were very much looking like they didn't want to hear it.

Finally, Callum continued, "Claudia, the dark mage who's currently still hiding in Xadia somewhere, was one of the humans there at the time. I took her book of dark magic spells and a snake's belly from her bag, and performed a spell I'd seen her do before to turn the dragon's chains into snakes. I sent them at the soldiers who had Rayla and the dragon surrounded, and then I don't remember anything else very clearly after that, because I suddenly lost all my strength and collapsed."

Rayla took over the story from there. "Basically, after he collapsed, Pyrrah was freed and I picked him up and dragged him back to the cave where we'd been staying since the last night. He was still mostly conscious while I was bringing him back, but once we reached the cave, he'd gone from delirious to unconscious. I can't say I was very happy with him for the next several hours afterward. But you can't exactly be mad at someone who just saved you and fell into a coma because of it. It only got worse as time went on. He went from muttering in his sleep, to thrashing, and finally just started gasping for air like he couldn't breathe." Rayla's narration trailed off at the end. Callum suspected that the memories were too painful.

"My dreams weren't pleasant," he picked up again. "How it started was especially horrifying. I met a dark version of myself who told me that it was my destiny to do dark magic because humans can't do primal magic. I'd already done dark magic, so I just had to accept it. But then my dad, King Harrow interrupted. I saw him there, chained to the throne, telling me that fate is a lie and that I'm free to choose my own path. So I told my dark copy that I didn't want his power, and he crumbled to dust."

By now, virtually everyone was mesmerized by the story, looks of disbelief all over their faces.

"After that, it got even wierder," Callum remembered. "I was on a boat with a sea captain we'd met on our journey. We were sailing through a violent storm, and I was the sail of the ship. Then I was back on the ship, steering it. Then I was looking down at the storm through the Primal Stone again. Then I smashed the stone, and the ship had been wrecked, and I fell under the ocean. Then right as I was feeling overwhelmed by everything, I heard my mom telling me that all I had to do was breathe, and let my body and my spirit catch up with my mind. So when I let myself breathe, she-she gave me a hug, said she loved me, and then...I woke up, and I somehow knew the Sky Arcanum."

By the time Callum had finished, everyone was dumbfounded by this story. When no one was willing to speak, Zubeia finally broke the silence, saying, "Once this was explained to Sol Regem, he demanded that Callum be purified and sent back across the border by tomorrow."

" _Purified!?_ " Rayla's head whipped around.

"But the Sunforge isn't yet finished being purified!" Janai protested.

Zubeia sighed, "Unfortunately, Sol Regem didn't stick around long enough to tell him that. Perhaps he will have a solution, but I am not sure."

"Forget that, what about _Callum?_ " Rayla protested.

"What do you mean?" Callum asked.

Janai explained, "Purification is a process where the full force of the Sunforge is channeled into a person or object such that it burns away anything that is contaminated by darkness. If a person has performed enough dark magic, the Sunforge could end up burning away enough of their flesh...that they could die."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, Sol Regem might be a grumpy, racist old grandpa dragon, but he's not totally irredeemable. Of course we all know that Callum's going to survive the purification (he only did dark magic once, come on) but I couldn't resist cutting off the chapter where I did. It's plenty long already.


	25. Purification

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callum is brought to the Sunforge to be purified.

Janai's words rang in Callum's head. He could _die?_

"But...I only used dark magic once," he said slowly.

"Good," Janai answered. "Then there is almost no chance that you will even suffer permanent damage. It is not a pleasant process, but apparently people, both humans and elves, who have experienced far more dark magic than you have survived the process in the past, so if anything, it's actually better that you get rid of its influence sooner before it has a chance to further corrupt you."

"Well, I didn't know about this purification until a little while ago," Callum started, "but if I had known about it sooner, I probably would have asked to be purified if it could get rid of any traces of dark magic left in me."

"Callum," Rayla tried to protest, laying a hand on his wrist.

"I'll be fine, Rayla," Callum told her. "Dark magic's barely touched me. I'll just get rid of the last traces of dark magic left in me and we can keep going like we always have."

"Which brings us to the last topic of this discussion," Zubeia interrupted. "Sol Regem has demanded that when Callum is purified, he leave Xadia and never come here again."

The chamber once again fell silent. No one wanted to be the first to tread that fine line. In the end, it was Ibis that spoke first.

"Well, at least fortune would have it that Prince Callum's training is nearly complete. I only have a few techniques left to show him before he can officially be called a full-fledged sky mage."

"What?" Nimbus demanded. "Mage training usually takes at least three years!"

"Well, what can I say?" Ibis said, spreading his arms. "Prince Callum is probably the brightest student I've ever trained. In addition to his incredible memory and artistic talent, which enable him to draw Ancient Draconic runes better than even some masters, his ability and insight in magic manipulation are frankly on par with my own. The only things he lacks at this point are experience and practice, both of which are things he doesn't really need me to learn. Ideally, we would spend the next month to learn these last few techniques, even with the accelerated rate at which Prince Callum has been learning, but I suppose I can make do tonight."

"Very well," Zubeia replied. "I now wish to speak to these two on a more private matter. The rest of you are dismissed." Once everyone else had left the chamber, Zubeia looked at Rayla and asked, "What will you do once this is over?"

Rayla blinked. "What?"

"Sol Regem has made it clear that your prince is to never cross the Xadian border again, and you can be sure that he will patrol more vigorously after learning of recent events. So will you continue to serve on the Dragonguard, or will you follow your prince back to his castle?"

"Please don't make me sound like some damsel in distress," Rayla begged.

Zubeia chuckled. "Apologies. But I believe my point is still valid."

Rayla let out a sigh. "I don't know what I want to do."

When she didn't follow up, Callum prompted her, "Rayla, we talked about this. We can't help you if we don't know what's bothering you."

Rayla smiled up at him. "Sorry. I guess I'm still not used to trusting people with my problems. I guess...I want to go with Callum. I never want to be away from him again, especially because bad things happen every time we've been apart. But I can't just abandon my duty, especially because I lost everything the last time I did."

Zubeia shook her head with rueful mirth. "You Moonshadow Elves and your honor. When will you realize that sometimes it isn't necessary to cling to it like it's the only thing keeping you alive?"

Rayla looked confused. "What?"

"Moonshadow Elves are taught not to show their emotions and that their duty is their primary purpose in life, whatever that duty is to. But we of the Sky Arcanum know that life is far too full of changes for us to expect to be able to follow what we perceive as our duty for as long as we want. What are you supposed to do when the goal that you've been working towards your entire life is suddenly completed or becomes meaningless? Then you wouldn't know what to do with the rest of your life."

"I suppose that makes sense," Rayla answered.

"So you have three options," Zubeia explained. "The first, which too many people take, is to give up on life entirely and waste away. The second is to prepare oneself for the occasion that their goal is complete and find a new purpose. The third is to find a goal that is so gradual, so impossible, that it will never be completed within your lifetime. Back when I lost my mate and my egg, I made the mistake of choosing the first option. And I pray that you never will."

Zubeia settled down onto her knees and elbows and looked Rayla in the eyes. "Do not think that it is necessary for you to cling to your duty to me. You also have a duty to your heart, and if your heart tells you to go with your prince, then go with him. I and the Dragonguard will be fine without you, and we will eagerly await the day that you return for a visit."

As Rayla smiled up at the Dragon Queen, Callum saw tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Rayla wiped them away, probably hoping he hadn't noticed. "Thank you, your majesty," she finally said. Then she turned to Callum with that sappy, loving look on her face that never failed to make him want to kiss her. It was pretty clear what her choice was when she threw her arms around him once more.

* * *

Rayla, of course, insisted on coming with Callum. Janai had already returned to Lux Aurea to inform her people of what had occurred. None of the Dragonguard had seen them off, not that Callum really blamed them.

Callum flew up to the top of Luz Aurea and landed on the platform of the tower, just below the blazing Sunforge. The bright orb still had a halo of darkness surrounding its golden core. Sol Regem had landed on the outside of the tower and picked up their scent as they landed. Janai, Aurora, and several Sunfire Elven guards were also present at the top of the tower, and Viren's relics had also been brought up to the platform.

"You came," the blind Archdragon stated.

"Did you think I wouldn't?" Callum asked.

Sol Regem snorted. "I would not have been surprised."

Janai stepped forward. "Sol Regem, we understand that you wish to have Prince Callum purified as soon as possible, but as you can no doubt smell, we have not yet finished purifying the Sunforge. Attempting purification at this stage would likely only make the infection of dark magic worse."

The dragon replied, "No need for concern. I am well aware of the condition of the Sunforge. You have done well to cleanse it thus far, and now I will finish the job."

Sol Regem reared his head up and opened his maw, the spaces between the scales of his throat lighting up in sequence. Sol Regem moved his jaws so he was almost biting the Sunforge and breathed a concentrated jet of light and heat directly into its heart. The Sunforge flashed and shone as the dark halo writhed and faded, and after a couple seconds, the darkness faded entirely from the Sunforge.

It was now the same color as the sun, and while Callum had never seen it before it was corrupted, the looks on the elves' faces told him that it had been completely purified and restored. Just standing near it was enough to make Callum start to sweat from the heat, and the light was almost too bright for Callum to look at. He remembered, the Sun Arcanum dealt with light and heat, truth and resolve. Two halves of a whole with the Moon Arcanum.

"Now purify the human," Sol Regem ordered.

Callum swallowed and stepped forward, Rayla's hand sliding out of his grip as the two of them looked at each other longingly, like a pair of star-crossed lovers. Then Janai had directed him to kneel down on a circular formation before the Sunforge, and Aurora had drawn a circular rune to create a magical ring of light around him. Another pair of Sunfire mages stepped forward and used a pair of staves to direct the beam emitted by the bottom of the Sunforge into a groove in the floor that ran down to the ring of light that contained Callum.

Fear started to well up in Callum's throat as the beam inched closer. Sol Regem inhaled through his nostrils and leaned in closer, making sure he would go through with it. Janai looked at him with fear, Aurora with pity, and the guards around the edge of the platform with disdain. Finally, his gaze fell on Rayla, whose terrified expression was on the verge of tears. He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it turned out to be more of a grimace. Then the beam from the Sunforge struck the cage of light.

A sharp, burning pain shot up Callum's spine and filled his torso before moving on to his head and limbs. As the pain started to fade, it seemed to trace a line from his eyes down through his neck and chest, out through his left arm. Callum clenched his teeth to keep from crying out in pain, but a groan still escaped his clenched teeth. He could feel the dark magic inside him, writhing and burning even as Sol Regem's breath had burned the dark magic that lingered inside the Sunforge.

Callum grit his teeth still harder and focused his mind into a single point as the darkness inside him fought to survive. He wanted this. He wanted this light, this fire, to cleanse him. As the darkness continued to disintegrate, he let the light fill him, lighting up his soul even as his mind and body accepted its heat and fire. He had used dark magic once before. It nearly killed him. But now, he was a Primal Mage, and he no longer had any use for that darkness. Never again.

He heard a faint cry as the last of the darkness within him finally disintegrated, and the warmth of the Sunforge blazed through him completely. His eyes snapped open, but his vision was totally white. Then it faded back to normal. Callum was incredibly sore, especially in his left arm and shoulder, but he'd done it. He was free. Someone was calling his name as if from very far away. His vision flickered. He tried to open his mouth, but no sound came out. Someone rushed over and grabbed him by his right arm and shoulder, still calling his name.

"I...understand...the s-sun..."

His vision turned black.

* * *

"Callum! _Callum!_ " Rayla called his name over and over, but her prince did not respond. She checked his pulse and breathing, and breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that his steady life signs confirmed that he wasn't in any danger.

Janai knelt down beside her. "He's going to be fine," the Sunfire Queen assured her. "He'll wake up in a few minutes and want something to drink most likely, but he'll be fine."

"What was that he said before he passed out?" Aurora asked. "I...understand what?"

Sol Regem inhaled through his nose again, but this time jerked his head back with an expression of surprise. "Impossible." He sniffed harder, and his surprise turned into disbelief. "He has connected to the Sun Arcanum."

Immediately, everyone's faces were filled with shock.

"Are you sure?" Janai asked the old Archdragon. "Couldn't you be smelling the afterglow from the purification?"

Sol Regem growled, "I know the difference between the scent of an Arcanum and the scent of purification. If it were merely afterglow, it would be fading. No, this scent is only growing stronger. He has learned the Sun Arcanum, even as he did the Sky and Moon."

Callum suddenly groaned in Rayla's arms and fluttered back into consciousness. "Callum!" Rayla cried out, helping him sit up before wrapping him in a bone-crushing hug.

"Rayla. Ribs. Ribs!" he gasped before Rayla loosened her arms. Tears welled up in her eyes once again.

"Callum," she started to say, "Don't ever-"

He cut her off with a kiss. Sol Regem twitched at the sound, and the two cut it off a bit quicker than they would have liked. When the two of them got to their feet, Callum leaning on Rayla, Sol Regem asked, "Moonshadow Elf, what is your relationship with this boy?"

Rayla made sure Callum could stand up on his own before stepping forward, looking the old Archdragon in the face. "I love him, great dragon."

Sol Regem rumbled in his throat and turned to Callum. "And you?"

Callum replied, "I love her more than life."

Sol Regem pulled back his head, considering this answer. Finally, he spoke again, "I have not forgiven your kind for their crimes, but you have earned my respect, Prince Callum of the Arcane."

Suddenly the Archdragon roared in pain and flared his wings, pushing off of the tower. The guards gathered around Janai, Callum, and Rayla as something big started to scale the outside of the tower. A triangular purple head with wavy horns and tiny needle-like fangs poked out above the platform, followed by a twelve-meter long serpentine body with twelve legs, each bearing four long curved claws. Several shades of fallen Sunfire Elves climbed up with it, and on its back were an old man and a young woman whom Rayla would recognize anywhere.

"Viren," Callum hissed. "Claudia."

A low chuckle emanated from the wyrm's throat. A deep, rich voice followed, "Don't leave out me, human mage. Nice to meet you. My name is Aaravos."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, we all saw Callum-getting-purified-leading-him-to-learn-the-Sun-Arcanum coming. So I added in my own twist ending.
> 
> So now Callum's been purified, he's learned the Sun Arcanum, and agents of darkness are attacking Lux Aurea. Stay tuned and leave comments!


	26. Grudges

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viren, Claudia, and Aaravos launch another attack on Lux Aurea. Both sides hold grudges.

" _Aaravos!?_ " Janai hissed, yanking her sunforge blade from its scabbard. Sol Regem flew away, roaring in pain. The end of his tail was turning purple.

"Now, now," the wyrm said patronizingly. "We're not here for you. We've come here for something else." The wyrm raised its head and looked down at Callum, inspecting him. "So this is the human mage who is well on his way to learning all six Arcana. I must say, your development has been _fascinating_."

Rayla stepped between them, flipping out her blades and pointing one of them at the creature's snout. "You leave him alone."

Viren sneered at her. "What do you think your sword would even be able to do to him?"

Rayla glared at him, not lowering her swords. "I'll deal with _you_ later for what you did to my parents."

"Parents?" Viren asked, confused. "Do you mean the Moonshadow Elves who failed to protect the egg of the Dragon Prince? It was them who told me it was a weapon."

"I'm glad they did," Rayla shot back. "You kept it alive long enough for me and the princes to find it."

Viren sneered and reached a hand inside his jacket. In response, Callum's finger shone with sky blue light, his other hand crackling with electricity.

"Callum," Claudia called to him, "please don't do this."

"I told you the same thing once," Callum replied. Claudia flinched. "You chose your father over peace."

"I would have kept humanity safe!" Viren insisted.

"By turning your soldiers into monsters?" Callum asked. "I'll have you know they all suffered from internal burns when that spell wore off. Half of them have been permanently crippled. You already see all magical creatures as spell components, so what would you have done to me if I'd connected to the Sky Arcanum while you were still the High Mage of Katolis? Would I just be more spell components to you?"

"Callum!" Claudia exclaimed in a shocked voice. "How can you say that?"

"How can you stay with him, Claudia?" Callum retorted. "Killing the Dragon King, starting a war, destroying thousands of lives! How!?"

"Enough," the wyrm commanded. "We're not here to chat."

"You won't be able to corrupt the Sunforge again, Aaravos," Janai told the creature.

"Of course," the wyrm said easily. "That sort of trick would only be able to work once. We're here for something-"

"AARAVOS!" Sol Regem roared. He was circling back towards the tower, absolutely furious. The end of his tail was black and twisted. He had apparently burned the end of his own tail off to prevent the wyrm's poison from corrupting him. "YOU _DARE_ INFECT ME WITH DARK MAGIC!" Once again, the spaces between his throat scales lit up in sequence as he swooped low over the tower.

But the wyrm only smiled. "Get what we came for," he told the two dark mages. Then the creature leapt off the tower like a striking snake, lunging straight at Sol Regem. The old dragon roared and tried to swat him out of the air, and the two of them tumbled down to the courtyard below. Immediately, the shades attacked, but Callum had already set up his first spell.

" _Ieiunium Ventus!_ "

Callum spread the wind support buff over Rayla and the Sunfire Elves as they began to engage the shades. Immediately, they began to move faster and more fluidly as their skills countered the shades' raw power. Almost as swiftly, Aurora cast a spell of her own.

" _Lux Defaeco!_ "

The shades stalled as a brilliant white light smote them from above. Callum guessed that it was meant to disrupt or purify dark magic, but the shades kept going. Aurora cursed and started drawing another rune when Viren spoke.

" **Cigam rieht yortsed, gof** **.** "

Raising his hand, he unleashed a thick black fog that quickly covered the fighting shades and elves. The elves tried to withdraw from the black smoke, but the shades followed, preventing them from retreating. Callum paused the etching of the lightning rune he was halfway through drawing and drew a different one first.

" _Impetus Tempestatis!_ "

If it had been before his purification, Callum wasn't sure he would've had the energy to power the difficult spell. But with the dark magic in him gone, it was almost like he'd just taken off a lead-weighted jacket for the first time since he'd made the connection to the Sky Arcanum. Immediately, the wind picked up, cutting the dark fog to pieces, though it still lingered around the shades. As the wind continued to blow, Callum channelled more and more willpower into the spell, slowly churning it into a miniature storm. The elves were still feeling the effects of his support spell, so they weren't feeling the wind as much as Viren and the shades, who were slowly getting pushed back. Wait, where was Claudia?

"Father!" Claudia suddenly called out. She had retrieved her father's staff from the dark magic relics that had been brought to the sunforge to be purified. Callum's attention was on her now as well though, and he formed a pair of blades out of the surrounding wind and cast them at her. In response, she thrust the dark magic staff at the backs of the fighting elves, and sent a burst of dark fire directly at Rayla. Callum immediately moved to intercept it, but Aurora was already there.

" _Ignis Absorbet._ "

The fire was absorbed into Aurora's hand, and she grimaced in pain, for it contained dark magic. She immediately cast _Lux Defaeco_ again directly into her hand in an attempt to purify it. The distraction gave Claudia time to run back to her father's side and hand him the staff.

Callum wanted to howl in frustration. His mini storm was wearing off, and he was almost out of Sky Primal Energy. He had hardly any experience with sun or moon magic either, and while moon magic wouldn't even be able to respond where the sun was so strong, their enemies were well equipped to handle sun magic.

" _Fulminis Multa!_ " he cried out desperately, generating a ring of lightning orbs behind him, which he began to cast at Viren and Claudia in rapid succession. Viren stepped in front of his daughter and swung his staff, deflecting each blast of lightning.

Suddenly, Sol Regem screamed in pain behind them. "That's our cue," Claudia reminded her father. Immediately, both of them jumped off the edge of the tower. Callum ran after them, summoning his mage wings and hovering in the air above the falling dark mages. The two of them were apparently using a spell similar to _Ventus Modero_ to slow their fall, different in that it involved the use of dark purple tendrils of energy that gathered around their feet. Callum flared out his wings and etched a rune with the tip of his boot, putting all his spare energy into this one last spell.

" _Fulminis Magna!_ "

He kicked downwards with both feet, casting the massive lightning bolt down upon the two dark mages and the wyrm that waited there for them. They reached the ground mere moments before Callum completed the spell and sank into the wyrm's shadow. Then Callum's lighning bolt blasted a crater in the ground where they'd been only a few moments prior.

Callum again wanted to howl in frustration, but there were bigger problems. Sol Regem was lying in the middle of the battlefield, bleeding from wounds etched into his neck and chest that were beginning to turn a dark purple.

* * *

The battle under the Sunforge had finished. Three Sunfire Elves had died fighting the shades before the last one had been killed, and everyone had been wounded in some capacity. Probably the worst off was Aurora, whose hand had been crippled by the dark fire she'd absorbed to protect Rayla.

"Why'd you absorb it?" Rayla asked her. "Couldn't you have just deflected it?"

"There was no guarantee that it wouldn't have hit someone else," Aurora stated. "The loss of my hand is a small price to pay compared to the level of damage that poisoned fire would have dealt to someone else if they had been hit by it."

Rayla's face paled at the prospect. "Thank you," she whispered to the Sunfire mage.

Then Callum was there, swooping up to the top of the platform once more. "Guys, we have a serious problem," he told them, grabbing everyone's attention. "Sol Regem's dying."

Aurora immediately stood up. "Take me to him."

"Aurora, your hand-"

"Doesn't matter, take me to him!"

Calum made a face like he wanted to protest, but he turned around and allowed Master Aurora to throw her arms around his shoulders so he could fly them down to the dying Archdragon.

"Sol Regem!" Aurora immediately cried out upon reaching the ground and seeing his prone form. She rushed to his head and immediately started to perform several spells to try and heal him.

Sol Regem coughed and shifted his head. "Don't bother," he said tiredly. "We both know my wounds are fatal."

"Why? Why!?" Aurora demanded.

"That creature...it is Aaravos' familiar. I recognized his scent and voice upon it. If he has returned, you will need all the help you can find." He inhaled through his nose and continued, "Human mage, I can smell your presence. Did you defeat the dark mages?"

"No, your greatness," Callum answered reluctantly. "They got away before I could defeat them."

Sol Regem rumbled in his throat. "How many humans...have connected to the Primal Sources?"

"Three, now. Two young ladies connected to the moon and sun, respectively."

Sol Regem moved his head so he would have been looking at Callum if he still had his sight. "Then I charge you with this task, Prince Callum of the Arcane. If you are indeed so dedicated to peace between the humans and Xadia, then return to the human lands and instruct the humans in the ways of magic so that they will abandon the abomination that is dark magic. Then, hunt down the dark mages and Aaravos' familiar and rid this world of them. Do you understand?"

Callum swallowed. "I do."

"Good." Next, he addressed Aurora. "Sunfire mage, I have little time left. I feel the dark magic infecting me. When it reaches my head, I will become another mindless shade. So, use the Sunforge's power and purify me."

"You'll die!" Aurora insisted.

"I'm as good as dead anyway. At least I managed to put a few scars on that wyrm before it got its teeth past my scales. Now hurry, before dark magic consumes me." His last words became strained as the darkness continued to infect his wounds. Callum pulled Aurora away from Sol Regem and flew her back up to the Sunforge's tower.

He told Janai, "Sol Regem's dying. He told us to turn the Sunforge on him before his body turns into another mindless shade."

Janai was silent for a moment. "Very well."

She turned to give the order, but Aurora caught her arm with her good hand. "I should do it."

Janai looked at her high mage with concern, but Aurora's gaze was just as insistent. Again, Janai said, "Very well."

Aurora picked up her staff, which had been abandoned in the fight, and walked over to the gleaming Sunforge. She drew a pair of runes in the air and thrust the stone at the top of her staff through them into the beam at the bottom of the Sunforge. When she pulled it out, the beam followed it, like the end of it was glued to the tip of her staff. Walking to the edge of the platform and looking down at Sol Regem, Aurora planted her staff on the edge of the platform. The beam of light from the Sunforge refracted through the stone at the tip of her staff and struck the prone form of the ancient blind Archdragon. A faint scream was heard from Sol Regem's last battlefield as the dark magic that infected him was burned along with his body. Before long, only ash was left behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I came out with this chapter earlier than I expected. I guess I can't just leave everyone hanging for very long. I'm nice like that.  
> I honestly wasn't expecting to write in Aurora losing the use of one hand. I guess I just didn't want to write all the major players getting out unscathed.  
> Did I succeed in getting you to feel some sort of sympathy for Sol Regem? Let me know in the comments.


	27. Three Arcana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callum has a talk with Janai and Aurora concerning Arcana and training.

The Key of Aaravos lay on the bed next to Callum, the runes for the sky, sun, and moon all glowing brightly. Callum picked up the cube and left the room, headed for Master Aurora's study. Since he'd now learned the Sun Arcanum as well, he'd asked for her to teach him as well as Natalia when they returned to Katolis. Aurora had told him that it would take a while for her to prepare for it, and that she would also ask the other mages in the city if one of them was willing to come with her to help her teach. Now, he would be meeting her and Janai to discuss it.

Callum arrived at her office door and knocked. "Enter," came Master Aurora's voice inside.

The office was well-lit and filled with shelves containing books, scrolls, and strange instruments that were no doubt related to the finer aspects of Sun Magic. Many of them involved lenses or mirrors. Three chairs surrounded a desk in front of a large window at the back of the room that let in copious amounts of sunlight. Aurora was sitting behind the desk, while Janai and another Sunfire Elf that Callum didn't know were sitting in two of the chairs before it.

"Thank you for coming, Prince Callum," Janai told him as he entered. "Please, sit."

"Thank you," he replied, taking the last chair. "And there's no need to call me 'prince'. This is your kingdom, not mine, and besides, I was never very fond of that title anyway."

"As you wish," Janai conceded. "Now that we're all here, I believe we can begin." She looked at Aurora to confirm.

"Indeed," the Sunfire mage answered. "When we discussed the near future in Katolis only a few days ago, I proposed that because the Sunforge would likely take another month to finish purifying, my apprentice would stay behind in Katolis to begin the training of the human who connected to the Sun Primal, Miss Natalia. I have explained as much to the mages' guild here in Lux Aurea."

The newcomer nodded in agreement to this.

"However, that is not what happened. Instead, Sol Regem insisted that Callum be purified and used his own power to finish the restoration ahead of schedule. As a result, the mages' guild has, begrudgingly I will admit, decided that it is fine for me to return to Katolis early and begin training Miss Natalia. However, with Callum also having learned the Sun Arcanum, I assume he will also wish to be instructed in its magic?" Here, she looked Callum in the face.

"Yes," he answered. "I would be stupid to let an opportunity like this pass me by."

Aurora nodded. "However, as all of you know, I already have two apprentices in Corin and Miss Natalia. Therefore, I deemed it would be prudent for us to take a second mentor with us to Katolis. Callum, this man," here she gestured to the newcomer sitting next to him, "is Abner. He is a highly skilled mage and colleague of mine who is probably the least biased against humans of the mages here in Lux Aurea. Even less than me, I will admit."

"Good to meet you, sir," Callum greeted him, offering his hand.

Abner's hand was firm and friendly. "Good to meet you too, Callum. I was both surprised and deeply impressed when I heard that you had connected to the Sky Primal."

"You wouldn't be the first," Callum remarked.

"So," Aurora continued, "returning to the topic of human mages, with the addition of the Sun Arcanum, this brings the number of Primal Sources that you've connected to up to three, Prince Callum. The first question I think we all have is how you managed to learn the Sun Arcanum while you were being purified."

Callum scratched the back of his head. "That's...a little hard to explain. Both Corin and Natalia told me some of what the Sun Arcanum is about, so that was helpful I guess. Probably the big thing was that I actually wanted to be purified. I _wanted_ to rid myself of dark magic. And when I focused on that, I guess I opened myself up to the Sunforge and all that power coursing through me helped me make the connection."

"It wasn't entirely on purpose, was it?" Janai asked.

"Well, to be fair, that's kinda true about all my Arcana. I happen to have a near-death experience and then I know a new Arcanum."

"Something we should probably try to avoid next time if you decide to try to learn another," Janai remarked.

"Yeah, Rayla would kill me if I did that again," he said half-jokingly. Only half though.

"So, now that you have connected to three Arcana," Aurora continued, "are you going to maintain that you don't have any desire to obtain connections to all the Primal Sources?"

Callum considered this for a second, feeling the new addition of the Sun Arcanum to the Moon and Sky. "Well, when I first learned the Moon Arcanum, I was surprised at how many parts of it matched up with the Sky Arcanum. I could feel parts of both of them intertwine like parts of a greater whole. But now that I've been purified and learned the Sun Arcanum, I can sense my Arcana even more clearly than before, and when I learned the Sun Arcanum it kind of...threw my other two out of balance."

"What do you mean?" Aurora asked.

Callum answered, "The Sun Arcanum is much more closely linked to the Moon Arcanum than either of them are to the Sky Arcanum. As a result, it threw my Sky Arcanum out of balance a bit with the rest of them. I can still use sky magic just fine, but if I were to try and combine it with any other Arcanum at this point, I probably wouldn't be able to maintain the balance between the two."

"Another realm of unexplored possibilities," Aurora mused. "The idea of combining two or more different Primal Sources into a single spell is something that hasn't been explored in centuries."

"Still, how is this relevant to you learning all the Arcana?" Abner asked.

Callum continued, "Having three Arcana out of balance with one another leaves me feeling...incomplete if that makes sense. And the more I think about it, the more I think it would be a good thing for me to connect to all the Primal Sources."

"Why's that?" Janai asked.

"For one thing," Callum explained, "I'm still not strong enough. We were able to drive off Viren and Claudia this time, but next time they'll be even stronger, and I haven't even mentioned the wyrm that calls itself Aaravos. Also, I really want to be able to bring magic back to the human kingdoms, and I'll better be able to do that if I know all the Arcana and can teach people how to connect to them." He held up the Key of Aaravos while he said this, the sun rune blazing brightly.

"What is that device, Prince Callum?" Aurora asked. "I've seen you use it before, but I never asked what it is."

Callum lowered the cube. "In a letter he gave me before he died, my stepfather King Harrow told me that it was called 'the Key of Aaravos' and that it supposedly unlocks something of great power in Xadia. So far, all I've been able to do with it is detect the different Primal Sources with it. Would you happen to know what it is?"

Aurora tapped a finger against her chin. "No, the Sunfire Elves have no knowledge about the device. Whatever it is, it's most likely something that Aaravos gifted to the humans before he was imprisoned by Avizandum."

"Speaking of which," Janai interjected, "the wyrm introduced itself with the same name. If that thing truly is Aaravos..."

"Soren told me it used to be a little purple grub that Viren had," Callum remembered.

"And since the dark mage had the Mirror of Aaravos at the time, he must have figured out that Aaravos was behind it," Aurora concluded. "Somehow, Aaravos and the dark mage figured out a means of communication through the mirror, and Aaravos sent a familiar of sorts through the mirror to influence the dark mage."

"But if that's the case, aren't we in danger of Aaravos being set free!?" Abner demanded.

"We probably would be if the mirror were still here," Janai admitted. "But my guess is that the dark mages would need the mirror itself in order for Aaravos to be released from his prison. And the mirror is back at the Storm Spire now."

"Is it possible that this cube could also be something they will need?" Abner asked.

"I don't think so," Callum suggested. "How would Aaravos have known how he was going to be imprisoned, or even how to create something that could be used to release him in the future?"

"Even so, the possibility is still there," Janai told him. "It would probably be a good idea for you to keep that cube with you as often as possible to make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands, just in case."

"I understand. So when will we be leaving for Katolis again?" Callum asked.

"I'll need a couple more days to make sure I've taken care of everything here in Lux Aurea before we make the trip back. In the meantime, you can send a message to Katolis explaining the situation," Aurora told him.

* * *

_...and that's basically what happened. We'll arrive back in Katolis in the next couple of days. Earlier than we expected, but that's not a bad thing, even if bad stuff happened while we were away._

_Your brother,_

_Callum_

Ezran finished reading the letter with a big sigh. He was glad his brother and Rayla were alright, but he wished this didn't happen _every time_ they were apart.

Corin gave a bit of a sigh of his own. "I didn't think I would be so relieved that Master Aurora's coming back so soon. I am _terrible_ at teaching."

"You're not that bad," Natalia protested. "I'm leagues better than when I started out."

"Either way, it's a good thing that Prince Callum is safe," the tracker named Evin said in a relieved tone.

"Yeah," Ezran agreed. "And he's been doing a lot. Let's make sure we can surprise him when he gets back, shall we?"

Evin allowed himself to smile at the boy king. "I believe we've been making progress, your majesty. Shall we continue?"

"Sounds good to me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This more or less brings this arc to its conclusion. I have no idea what the next one is going to be, but that's part of the fun of writing something like this. As such, it's probably going to take a bit longer than previous chapters have.
> 
> Concerning dark magic, I see it being similar to a cancer or a poison that lays dormant in you until activated. Viren and Claudia can do tricks with light and fire without crushing the life out of things because they've had enough dark magic build up in them. Unfortunately, dark magic is also corruptive of the body, so dark mages will tend to be weaker than normal people, though it would (ironically) probably make one less susceptible to diseases (because nothing likes contaminated food). It also made it harder for Callum to connect to his magic because it damaged his senses, similar to how smoking stunts your senses of smell and taste.
> 
> Concerning how Arcana connect to each other, I see them arranging in a line from earthly to heavenly: Earth, Ocean, Sky, Moon, Sun, Stars. Ocean and Sky work well with each other because both are fluids and Moon and Sun we all know are like two sides of the same coin. In this sense, I also see Earth and Stars possibly complementing each other for being at the most extreme ends of the scale. As such, it would be no wonder that Callum now feels "incomplete".
> 
> Anyway, that's the chapter. If you have any ideas for new arcs, please leave them down in the comments. I'm also not above making spin-offs. Until next time.


	28. New Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new Arcanum has been learned, new hopefuls are coming soon, and new mentors are arriving!

" _Ignis Globus!_ "

Callum and Natalia each cast their own fire globe spell, creating near-identical globes of fire over their heads the size of large melons. Callum's was bigger and the fire was more copper-colored, but Natalia's was brighter and more golden.

Maintaining focus on the spell, the two mages-in-training began to manipulate the fire of their respective globes, taking small amounts off of the globe and shaping them in various ways. First, they would summon a pair of fireballs from their globes and cast them at the stone targets on the other side of the courtyard. Then, they would each shape a portion of the fire into a staff and strike a few times with it before turning it into a stream of fire that would again be cast at the stone targets. Finally, the remnants of the globe would be split into as many fist-sized balls as they could make, reforming the globe, and then splitting it again into fist-sized fireballs and casting them, one by one at the target.

When they were done, both of them finally let their arms drop. They'd just done the same activity three times. Aurora and Abner walked over, a neutral expression on Aurora's face that was somehow scarier than when she was being critical.

"Good work, both of you," the Sunfire Mage told them. "You've both improved. Miss Natalia, I'm glad to see that you've made great strides with the compression of your fire globe and with the ease at which you switch between the different motions. Your aim and rune-drawing have also gotten better, but you could also stand to improve in those areas."

"Thank you, Master Aurora," Natalia told her.

"Prince Callum," Master Aurora turned to the human prince, "I'm glad that your familiarity with sky magic has allowed you to control your fire magic easily, but you could also stand to work on compressing your fire globe to make it less vulnerable to leaking and enemy attacks. Also, you could really stand to have some sort of training in weapons or close quarters combat."

"I'm sorry, Master Aurora," Callum answered, "but I've always been useless with a sword, and that's the only weapon I was taught to use."

"Then try something else," Master Abner told him. "Try a spear, a staff, an axe, knives, or even a bow if you have the time. A mage's greatest weakness is close quarters combat, but if you have some experience in that area, you will at least stand a chance if someone manages to close in on you before you can use a spell."

Callum winced, remembering Prince Kasef's attack at the Battle of the Storm Spire.

Natalia rescued him, saying, "I apologize for my own hesitation in using combative spells. I've never liked the idea of having to take lives, even those of monsters created by dark magic."

"On the contrary, we are glad that you do not wish to use your magic in combat," Master Aurora told her. "Only a fool wishes for conflict, and if you had wanted to learn magic merely so you could fight with it, I would have turned you down as an apprentice."

Callum turned his thoughts to Master Abner's words considering his use of weapons. While it was certainly true that if you found one thing wasn't working, you should try something new, he was still unsure that he would find what he was looking for with any sort of weapon. It had been two months since Sol Regem's death, and while he wasn't struggling to learn Sun Magic, he still felt unbalanced due to how his Sun, Moon, and Sky Arcana fit together. He had consulted Aurora and Abner on the subject of the Arcana and his connections to them, and they had come up with a scale that arranged them from earthly to heavenly: Earth, Ocean, Sky, Moon, Sun, Stars. Together, they'd come up with a theory that different Arcana had different compliments to each other, with Sun and Moon being the most obvious, and Sky and Ocean both being fluid which ended up pairing them up as well. That left Earth and Stars, the two that were farthest apart on the scale and were obvious choices for complementing each other.

This was further supported by the nature of Callum's Arcana. Sun, Moon, and Sky all lined up next to each other on the scale, but his Moon and Sun Arcana were closer to each other than to Sky, which left him feeling unbalanced. He suspected that if he'd learned Earth or Ocean instead, it would have been worse. After that, they couldn't help but come up with different theories for other arrangements of Arcane connections, like what if one had only the three heavenly Arcana or only the three earthly Arcana? Or what if someone had one Arcanum from each complementary pair? They'd discussed this for a while one evening until Rayla had dragged him away.

Speaking of, she'd just entered the courtyard, no doubt hoping to spar with the guards who were waiting patiently for the mages to be done casting fireballs for the day. "You're wearing your dumb idea face again, Callum," she told him as she sauntered over.

"Hey, Rayla," Callum greeted her. "I was just thinking about my Arcana. That's all."

"I heard that some people could use a little help learning how to fight," she said, a grin plastered all across her face. "I was wondering if I would be able to help with that?"

"Gladly if you're as good at teaching me how to fight as you are at teaching me how to dance," Callum replied.

"Is it weird that I actually find it easier to talk to you two now that I know you're a thing?" Natalia asked.

"Maybe you're just like Ez," Callum suggested. "He can't stand watching us be 'gross' as he puts it."

"Speaking of though..." Aurora spoke up. Ezran had just entered the courtyard himself, beaming from ear to ear. The tracker Evin was right behind him.

"Ez!" Callum greeted his little brother. "Did you get news back from the Drakenwood or the other kingdoms yet?"

"Yes!" Ezran shouted, running over. "It took a while for the messages to get there and back, but they finally answered! A pair of mages from the Drakenwood are willing to come to Katolis to teach Evin and me Earth magic, and both Duren and Evenere are willing to send a few hopefuls from their kingdoms to learn Primal Magic!"

* * *

For the last two months, when Ezran wasn't working on filling the open council seats or doing other kingly duties, he was putting together the Earth Arcanum with Evin, and about a week ago, he'd finally succeeded. Of course, he'd promptly sent news of this to the Earthblood Lords in the hopes of getting Lord Alder and Lord Heath to lend them a couple of mages to teach in Katolis for a while. In addition, he'd also been exchanging notes with not only Callum, Natalia, and the Sunfire Mages, but also Ellis and Lujanne at the Moon Nexus, and they'd finally decided it was time to extend an offer to the other kingdoms to share the secrets of Primal Magic.

The plan was, now that they would have a larger number of people teaching and learning magic, the operation would be moved to Sierrashire, Lord Forsyth's former territory. It composed of the northernmost mountains along the eastern side of the Weeping Bay and much of the lands just north of them, while Lord Rogan's old territory, Verdeshire, composed of much of the fertile lands along the border with Duren and Del Bar. That whole area was Callum's now, so he could do what he wanted with it now, though he'd lately been a bit preoccupied with learning magic to take charge of the territories.

Ezran, unfortunately, would have to put his own magic training on hold because he wouldn't be able to devote his time to learning magic when he had a kingdom to run. He was a little disappointed by this, but he didn't mind too much. Before he'd made the connection to the Earth Arcanum, he'd been able to feel what the animals around him were saying and understand them. Now, he still felt that, but with the entire Earth. The flora, the fauna, the soil and rock, all of them responded to his touch, and he could understand them. When Callum had used the Key of Aaravos to confirm Ezran's connection, the rune had glowed very brightly, signifying an incredibly strong connection. It wasn't for nothing either; if Ezran concentrated now, he could now use his connection to sense whatever was going on within the castle's stone walls.

The Earthblood Mages were the first to arrive. Two mages, an older lady and a somewhat younger man, and a quartet of guards that had accompanied them on the way. They had been polite, if a little curt with Callum and the guards when they'd arrived, so Ezran decided the best strategy would be to 'kill them with kindness', so to speak. Instead of meeting them in the throne room like how they'd expected, he'd instead met them at the door leading into the keep from the courtyard, all smiles and genuine friendliness, and led them personally to a sitting room where they could discuss the teaching of magic and Arcana more comfortably. Callum, Natalia, and the Sunfire Elves naturally followed as well.

It was a nice day out, so Ezran had had the window of the sitting room opened when he'd decided to use it. Of course, no sooner than it was opened, a small blue bird flew into the face of the guard who'd promptly opened it. Ezran laughed as the bird swooped up into the rafters and twittered down at them. He thought he even saw the Earthblood Mages crack smiles at its antics.

"Hey, come here," he told the bird gently. "It's alright." The bird trilled and flew down, landing in his outstretched hand. Bait, who was being carried in his other arm, gave a grumpy croak.

"Now, Bait, be nice to the guests," he admonished the glow toad, setting him down on the table. Bait grumbled and planted himself in the middle of the table.

The bird, on the other hand, had flown over to the Earthblood Elves and perched on the antlers of the elder. She chuckled and held up her hand and the bird hopped to it, singing brightly.

"You're an excitable little one, aren't you?" she asked the bird. The bird trilled back.

"She hasn't seen Earthblood Elves before," Ezran told her, "so she's curious and she really likes your presence."

"I can understand her too, dear boy," she answered. "Talking to animals isn't that uncommon a trait among the Earthblood Elves." She motioned her hand towards the window and the bird flew away. 

"I'd wondered if something like that was true," Ezran said brightly. "Anyway, I assume you're here due to my request to Lords Alder and Heath that they lend us a few mages so we can teach humans Earth Magic."

"Indeed," the male Earthblood Elf replied. "I am Master Cadoc of Umbertor, and this is Master Nerys, my colleague and senior."

"Pleasure to meet you," Ezran replied.

Once everyone had sat down and the introductions were out of the way, Callum explained the plan.

"If we're going to keep training new human mages even after all the elves have gone home, we're going to be needing a good place to do it. Doing everything here in the capital is nice, but it keeps things from spreading out among the people too much, and we don't really have a good place here that we can use as an academy. So, what we decided is that it would be a better idea to move the training up here," he gestured to a section of Sierrashire north of the Weeping Bay, "to Sierrashire. This area is ideal for a few reasons. First, it's close to multiple key locations, including the Breach, the Moon Nexus, and the borders with Duren and Del Bar. Secondly, Ez was kind enough to grant me this territory after its previous Lords tried to stage a coup, and it would also give me the opportunity to take stock of the situation in these parts when I'm not focusing on learning magic."

"Personal conveniences aside, what about the people there?" Master Abner asked. "Will they be okay with their lands being crossed by elves?"

"They won't have to be," Callum assured him. "We're mostly just going to be staying at the castle and letting the townsfolk get used to elves bit by bit."

"A sound proposition," Master Aurora admitted. "Are the necessary preparations being made?"

"We wanted to confirm that it wasn't a problem with anyone involved before we gave the go-ahead," Ezran explained.

"No need to worry about us," Master Nerys assured him. "It doesn't matter one way or another to us where we teach, only that we get to."

"Speaking of which," Ezran chamged the topic, "in my letter to Lord Alder and Lord Heath, I did make sure to mention that we would be happy to give compensation for you spending the time to teach us humans Primal Magic, and it wasn't clear from the answer back what it would be or even if it would be necessary."

"The lords were unsure what to ask for as compensation," Master Cadoc explained. "As such, they decided to leave that up to us, and we decided that we would forego payment for our services until it is clear what we will be doing and what treatment we will be receiving here in Katolis."

"Fair enough," Ezran replied. "I just wish I could go with you. Unfortunately, I'll have to stay here to run the country. I don't have enough time on my hands to leave the castle and go to Sierrashire to learn magic."

"In that case, how about I teach you some of the basics while we're still here?" Master Nerys asked. "But before that, if you don't mind...?" The old mage held out her hand. Ezran took it, and Master Nerys closed her eyes. Ezran could feel the pulse of her Arcanum against that of her own for the minute that she held his hand.

When she finally released his hand and opened her eyes, she said, "I'm sorry, but the nature of your Arcanum is less oriented towards spellcraft. Even with training, I doubt you would ever become a proper mage. But not to worry, even having learned an Arcanum is quite the feat, though judging from the achievments of everyone here, I can't help but wonder if learning an Arcanum is actually more simple than we thought."

"Not really," Natalia remarked. "It took most of us months of learning and reflection to understand our Arcana. Callum's a special case because he was assisted by near-death experiences."

Callum sighed and laid his face in his hands. "You guys are never going to let go of that, are you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, this chapter took forever to get out. I have a shell of a premise for the next arc, but I still have no idea where I'm going to go with it. At least the magic academy might provide some interesting stories for the spin-off.
> 
> Sorry, no Mage Ezran, but I will at least allow him to use simple earth spells. His Arcanum is more oriented towards feelings than spells.
> 
> Look forward to new mage candidates, and please comment if you want to support my work. I was recently told by IronsideHeldenhammer that my series had partially inspired his own work, The Mark of a Dragon, and there's no better feeling as a writer than being the inspiration for someone else. Thank you everyone for your support and feedback!


	29. Katolis Academy of Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten new hopefuls have arrived. The time will soon come that the truth and lies will be stripped away...

Two from Evenere, three from Duren, five from Katolis. The ten hopefuls lined up in front of the gate of the lord's mansion.

Callum cleared his throat. "Well, now that you're all here, we might as well get started. I'm Callum, Prince of Katolis, currently connected to the sky, sun, and moon. With me today are three other humans who have connected to their own Arcanum as well as the elven teachers and one apprentice who will be training everyone in the use of magic. Between all of us, we cover four of the six Arcana: Sun, Moon, Earth and Sky." He gestured for everyone to introduce themselves.

"I am Lujanne, and this is my apprentice, Ellis. Her three-legged wolf is Ava. I will be your instructor in Moon Magic should any of you wish to pursue it." Lujanne had made the trip up from the Cursed Caldera only yesterday, and didn't really plan on staying that long. After all, she had a nexus to defend.

Aurora introduced herself next. "You may refer to me as Aurora. My colleague is Abner, and my apprentice is Corin. We shall be teaching Prince Callum, Miss Natalia, and those of you who learn the Arcanum in the ways of Sun Magic."

"Which leaves us," Master Nerys finished. "My name is Nerys, and my colleague is Cadoc. We will be teaching this young gentleman," here she gestured to Evin, "and any of you who wish to learn it in the ways of the Earth Arcanum."

The introductions and opening instructions went on for a little while. Of the ten hopefuls, Callum tried to pick a few of them out. There were a lot of anxious stares as he explained that learning to do magic was hardly an easy feat and that one needed to really dedicate themselves just to learning their Arcanum before they could even perform the most basic spell. He did note a few individuals that might end up becoming a handful. The boy from Evenere seemed to be a disagreeable sort of fellow, barely listening and no doubt thinking he wanted to perform some powerful attack magic right off the bat. A girl from Duren seemed a little stuck-up about the whole business as well, probably of the same mind as the guy from Evenere.

Finally, Callum's summary came to a close. "Well, that's everything, I suppose. Are there any questions so far?"

The Durenese girl Callum had noted earlier asked primly, "How long will it take to learn an Arcanum?"

"Depends," Callum answered. "There's a lot we don't really know about these connections, but it seems to depend on the amount of effort put into understanding the Primal Source, and how easily you understand the abstract concepts related to each one. It's also possible that it may take longer for you to learn an Arcanum if you're not very compatible with it, though we haven't been able to test that theory yet. But, if you want a more concrete answer...Natalia, how long did it take you to learn the Sun Arcanum?"

"Around three months," Natalia answered. "It was practically all I thought about that entire time, trying to understand what the sun meant and how it connected to myself."

Callum turned back to the hopefuls. "And she only had the most basic knowledge of how to connect to an Arcanum. On the opposite end, I got my first taste of magic when I was fortunate enough to have picked up a Primal Stone for a short while. I only knew two spells back then, but magic was still as easy as breathing for me, despite how bad I was at everything else at the time. Once I lost the Primal Stone, I threw everything I had into trying to make my own connection to the Sky Arcanum, despite how I'd already been told humans couldn't do magic." He shot a look at Lujanne. She merely smiled back at him, so he rolled his eyes and continued. "After around a week, I'd been able to gather a lot of the pieces in my head, and I just needed a breakthrough to bring them all together. And so, with the help of a little near-death experience, courtesy of dark magic, I was able to make that final breakthrough by putting all the pieces together in the wierdest dreams you've ever seen, and made the connection to the Sky Arcanum."

One of the men from Katolis ventured, "So, is that why this hasn't been done before? Too much effort to do it when you can just crush something and do some hocus-pocus?"

"Not really," Master Nerys corrected him. "I believe the reason, even before dark magic was discovered, is because there was no way of knowing this could be done. After all, you can't teach a person born blind to see, so what reason did anyone have to believe that a human born without magic can learn to do it?"

Natalia winced. "That's harsh."

Lujanne commented, "As much as I respect Earthblood Elves for being straightforward and direct, I would definitely employ a little more subtlety in my response."

"A blunt response is easy to understand," Nerys maintained. She turned back to the new students. "Any further questions before we go inside and get settled in?"

"When do we start learning how to fight with magic?" the delinquent-looking teen from Evenere asked.

"After you lose that sort of mindset," Master Nerys answered. "Magic is not a weapon or a means of gaining power. It is both a means of connecting to the world around you and a tool to help you through your struggles. I advise you drop that mentality immediately or you won't be able to make a connection at all." She turned to the rest of the hopefuls. "The same goes for all of you. I hope that none of you came here with ulterior motives, because if you did, they will only interfere with your ability to make a connection. If you do have any, then drop them here at the gate right now so they don't get in the way later."

Most of the hopefuls froze at her sharp rebuke. Callum noted that the Durenese girl from before merely narrowed her eyes and didn't respond. "Well, if that's everything, we should start to get everyone settled in," Callum concluded. "We're going to be using the lord's mansion here in Sierrashire for now until we can get a proper magecraft academy built. It's large enough that we can easily accommodate twice as many people as we have here, so it's the best option for now." He started leading everyone down the pathway to the entrance. 

"Isn't it your mansion now?" Natalia asked. "Since you're the Lord of Sierrashire and Verdeshire now?"

Callum groaned. "Natalia, please. Don't remind me."

One of the men from Katolis asked nervously, "So...does that mean I should call you Milord?"

"Please don't," Callum begged. "Just call me Callum. The only time I will ask you to call me anything else is if you're learning sky magic from me, in which case, you may call me Master, but other than that, just Callum will do."

The man set his jaw and proclaimed, "As you wish, Master!"

Ellis giggled. "I guess we know which Arcanum he's going for."

When the group reached the entrance, Rayla was waiting there for them. Not at the door. On the roof.

Rayla swung down from her perch using one of her hooked blades and landed expertly on the path on front of the group, then made a show of retracting her blade and stowing it in the sheathe on her back. "So these are the new recruits," she stated with a mischievous smile as she eyed all the newcomers. "I look forward to helping whip them into shape."

All of the new hopefuls were startled by her sudden appearance and froze in their tracks. Someone even let out a slight yelp before they managed to control themselves.

"Rayla, don't scare them," Callum chided. "This is a magic school, not an assassin training program or whatever you had back in Silvergrove."

"It's still fun though," the Moonshadow Elf remarked. "And who knows? Maybe someone will want to train with the sword a little as well as learning magic. So introduce me already, mage prince."

Callum relented and turned to the newcomers. "Everyone, this is Rayla. She was my brother's and my companion on our quest to return the Dragon Prince to Xadia and the most amazing friend I've ever had. If you ever want to practice swordplay or something, you can go to her."

"Pleased to meet you all!" Rayla proclaimed. No one said anything. "Geez, tough crowd. Anyway, I'll be around if you need me." Rayla scaled a tree next to the entrance and vaulted away over the roof.

"She seems a little less reserved than usual," Evin remarked.

"She's been exploring the grounds since daybreak," Callum told him. "I'm not entirely sure, but I _think_ she likes it around here."

"We should get going, Prince Callum," Master Aurora reminded him. "You can talk about your girl later."

* * *

Dusk had fallen over the manor. All the hopefuls had been sent to bed and told they would be expected to rise early the next morning to choose which Arcanum they wanted to study.

Nakia considered everything she'd seen that day as she lay back in the room she'd been given. She'd been one of two people sent all the way from Evenere to Katolis in order to see if the Katolian royals were really willing to let them learn their secrets to obtaining Primal Magic. She'd expected vague promises and strange rituals, possibly involving elven interference. After all, there was no way that it was that easy to simply _learn_ how to do magic.

And yet, when she'd arrived, she'd been told that if she wanted to learn magic, she would have to do so through her own efforts in her own mind. Apparently, magic wasn't learned through some complex ritual, but through connecting with and understanding the world around her.

_You can't teach a person born blind to see, so what reason did anyone have to believe that a human born without magic can learn to do it?_

Master Nerys' words rang in her ears. It wasn't just the reasoning for why humans couldn't learn to do magic, it was also a subtle comment that humans were thought of as inferior. Nakia had also sensed something else in it too, though: a hint of challenge. Nakia was already skeptical of everything that Prince Callum had told them of the discovery of his Primal connections, and several of the others had been too. Nakia remembered the Durenese noble girl who acted particularly snobby and that boy, Bashan, who'd similarly made the trip to Katolis from Evenere. Her aunt had never spoken very highly of his family, and upon meeting him, she could see why.

Well, fine. She wasn't just here to learn magic anyway. She'd hidden her true identity on the passage to Katolis, and now that she was here, she could investigate this "magic training program" to her heart's content. Understanding and connection was all it took? In that case, she'd do the same thing that that Natalia girl had done. With a little luck, she'd have her Arcanum before summer was over. And to further test the system, she'd choose one that none of the instructors would be able to help her with.

She'd do everything all on her own, just as she'd always wanted to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that this chapter took so long to get out, I've been having a hard time coming up with ideas. Fortunately, I have something of an idea as to how the next arc or so of the story will progress, but it's still probably going to be slow going from here on. If you want to help, leave suggestions in the comments below. Those are always appreciated.
> 
> Bonus: what's up with Nakia? Again, thoughts in the comments. Deuces!


	30. The Fifth Arcanum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of the new hopefuls expresses their desire to learn an Arcanum that none of the Masters can teach, and Callum finds himself being teacher, student, and local lord all at the same time.

Early the next morning, all the Masters, apprentices, and hopefuls had gathered around the breakfast table to discuss which hopefuls would learn which Arcana. Rayla was there, but it was mostly just for the food and the moral support for Callum. As such, she politely listened to the discussion, but mostly paid attention to what the new hopefuls were doing.

"So, is there any particular reason why you chose the Sky Arcanum, Jay?" Callum asked one of the hopefuls. Apparently, he'd been calling Callum 'Master' since yesterday.

"Not really, Master," the Katolian man answered. "I guess it's just...I feel some sort of hunger when I think of magic, like I'm missing something core to who I am. And when I connected it to the feeling of a nice breeze going through my family's shop...I guess something about it just clicks with me."

"That is a good feeling to have," Master Aurora told him. "Just take care that it does not become lust for power."

"No problem, your ladyship," was the reply. "I've long known that I would never be anything more than an ordinary commoner, and seeing how much Master Callum has accomplished in only one short year is humbling to say the least. I doubt anyone would ever be able to match what he's done."

Callum winced. Rayla knew who he was thinking of, even if none of the hopefuls did.

"I'd still like to know more about what each of the Arcana can do." This time, it was the boy from Evenere who spoke, a big and brawny human who was a match for Soren in terms of physical prowess. Rayla guessed that his family must have something to do with the military. "I don't really know which would be best for me."

"Do you have any particular preferences?" Master Abner asked.

The human considered this. After a minute, he answered, "Earth or Sun, I guess."

"Before we continue to explain our Arcana," Master Nerys interrupted. "I would like to know something. You seem distracted, young man. Is there something you wish to share with us?"

The human bristled, but he grit his teeth before he could say anything rude. "No," he finally answered.

Master Nerys observed him for a few seconds before asking, "Are you here because you want to be, or because you have to be?"

The human looked her in the eyes, his face set and almost defiant. "Both."

Master Nerys nodded sagely. "With a little tweak to your attitude, that kind of passion will serve you well in the future. Choose the Sun Arcanum. Passion, light, heat, truth, all of these are traits that go hand in hand with the Sun Arcanum."

"Why, Master Nerys," Master Abner remarked, "It almost sounds like you're trying to push the lad onto us."

"Patience is a key part of the Earth Arcanum," Master Nerys explained. "I assume he'll need a little discipline in order to learn the Sun Arcanum, but at least his passion won't get in the way, as it likely would with the Earth Arcanum."

"I can handle discipline," the human remarked. "My father's a general. Strength is all that's been asked of me my whole life."

"Then it's high time someone asked something different of you for once," Master Aurora told him. "Physical strength will not be an asset when it comes to learning magic. Rather, you must temper your mind and soul before you can unlock the magic."

"Head, hand, and heart," Callum extrapolated. "That was something my mom used to tell me. In order to truly understand something, you must know it with your mind, body, and spirit. It was the key that allowed me to unlock the Sky Arcanum while I was having those wierd, dark magic-induced dreams."

"Understood," the human replied. "My name is Bashan. I will be in your care from here on."

Master Nerys nodded in resoponse and turned to another of the hopefuls, a rich-looking girl from Duren who hadn't reacted to Rayla's introduction the previous day. "What of you, young lady? Do you have any idea which Arcanum you wish to pursue?"

The girl looked up from her plate and replied primly, "Indeed, I do." She turned to Lujanne, who had taken little food and had already finished it. "You said that the Moon Arcanum deals with appearances and reality?"

"Yes, I believe I did," the old mage replied.

"I'm of the Durenese nobility," the girl explained. "And as such, I engage in political matters that often require the ability to see through lies and deception or put on a public facade to avoid causing problems. I believe that Moon Magic will be fit for this sort of purpose."

"Awesome!" Ellis exclaimed. "It'll be great to have some more company!"

"I see you're already thinking ahead," Lujanne noted. "Don't get too far ahead of yourself though. You'll have to learn the Arcanum first."

"I'm aware. Head, hand, and heart," the girl recited. She sipped her tea before continuing. "My name is Pavani Langhari of Duren. I'll be in your care for the time being."

* * *

"You've been fairly quiet this whole time, miss," Master Cadoc adressed the other hopeful from Duren, a stoic-looking young girl with narrow features. She had finished eating a while prior, and was now observing everyone in the room with a calculating gaze. "What is your name?"

The girl glanced up at him. "Nakia," she answered.

"Very well, Nakia. Do you know which Arcanum you wish to pursue?"

Nakia looked back at her empty plate and teacup. After a minute of deliberation, she set her gaze and said, "Ocean."

Silence fell across the entire table as the realization of what she'd just said sank in. Not even Callum had expected her or any of the hopefuls to want to learn an Arcanum other than the four that he and the Elves were able to teach.

"Do you realize what you are saying, young one?" Master Nerys asked her. "If you choose to pursue the Ocean Arcanum, none of us will be able to assist you in learning the Arcanum or its magic."

"I'm aware," the girl told the old master, pouring herself a new cup of tea. "And I am more than willing to take that chance. If I am to learn magic, I want it to be solely through my own merits, with as little help from anyone else as possible. Also, I am from Evenere. Evenere is an island that contains a great deal of marshland. The Ocean Arcanum sounds like it would be perfect for me in that case."

Master Abner narrowed his eyes at her. "Could it be that you also do not trust the method we claim that humans are able to use to learn magic?" he asked.

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't," the girl replied, sipping her tea. "But that is only part of my reasoning. I wish to prove to myself more than to anyone else that the things that you claim are possible. To this end, I have chosen the Ocean Arcanum. That is all."

"Well, ain't this a right dilemma?" Rayla remarked, leaning back in her chair.

"Not really," Callum objected. He was already thinking rapidly. "If Natalia and I have already been able to learn an Arcanum with little to no outside assistance, there's no reason that-uh...what did you say your name was again?"

"Nakia."

"There's no reason that Nakia can't do it as well," Callum finished. He turned to the girl in question. "You can join me and the others who want to learn the Sky Arcanum for now. The Sky Arcanum is probably pretty similar to the Ocean Arcanum after all. Even if you want to do this on your own, it'll still be easier for you if you at least have a little help getting started, right?"

Nakia conceded with a nod. "As you wish, Master Callum."

* * *

Callum laid his head on the desk in front of him and gave an exhausted sigh. Now that he was the lord of both Sierrashire and Verdeshire, he'd decided to make sure things were going well in both territories since both of their previous lords had been killed by their own shade summons. Now, he almost wished he hadn't.

The two lords' betrayals could hardly have come at much worse of a time. A power vacuum had suddenly spawned in both territories right as winter had arrived, and with winter came a multitude of problems made far worse by the lack of people capable of dealing with them. Callum had just finished sending out a series of documents that several villages in both territories had sent to their respective administrations ages ago, requesting aid so as to recover from the harsh winter. Callum had a feeling that he was going to have to replace the stewards of both territories at some point. He hoped that Ezran was having more luck finding some new people to fill the seats of the high council.

At least the magic training was going relatively well. He'd never been on the teaching end before, but after having been tutored by Ibis for a year or so, he felt he was doing fairly well regardless. Jay in particular was showing astounding enthusiasm and growth. It had only been two weeks and he'd already made the Key of Aaravos flicker a little. Nakia on the other hand was mostly watching from the sidelines observing how Callum was teaching his hopefuls about the Sky Arcanum and no doubt thinking about how his teachings could be applied to the Ocean Arcanum. Callum was still at a loss how to tutor her in ocean magic once she'd learned the Arcanum though.

Either way, he wanted to send a letter to Ibis. His old master was by far the most likely to be able to help him with the difficulties he had teaching the hopefuls. He probably should have done it sooner, but there was no point in lamenting it now.

He looked up as he heard the door open. Rayla walked into the room, carrying a tray with a tea set and some sandwiches. He gave a rueful smile as she set down the tray on his desk, moving a stack of papers to one side to make it fit.

"Making me take a break?" he asked.

"Stars know if I don't, no one else will," she told him. "And no use arguing. Just take a break. Drink some tea, have something to eat. I've not seen you around since this morning, when you were taking the sky hopefuls up to the tower. Have you been skipping meals again?"

Callum winced. "Hey, at least I haven't been skipping breakfast."

"And I'm supposed to be okay with just that? Your aunt might kill you if you miss breakfast, but one, I'm not her, two, she's not here, and three, just eating breakfast isn't enough to keep you going."

"Sorry, Rayla." Callum moved his chair to face her. "The territory's pretty much a mess right now. I'm going to have to do some serious work in order to get things back into shape. More than anything, I need new people I can trust helping me work through this."

"I'm just sorry I'm not really into politics. Otherwise I'd help more," Rayla admitted. "All I can tell you is if the people you're ordering around try to give you any guff, just tell them that if they don't put in the work to help you untangle the mess then they won't even have any territory to fix up anymore."

"You're more help than you know, Rayla," Callum told her. "That's actually not bad advice. Those who put in enough work will earn promotions and those who tell me to deal with it myself will lose standing. Not bad at all."

"That being said, I'm still rather at a bit of a loss what to do around here," Rayla admitted. "Not many of the hopefuls really enjoy training with me. It's mostly just that Bashan guy who does, and regardless of how helpful he says I've been, training one guy isn't really much to go on."

"You can try training the local soldiers then?" Callum suggested. "You're probably stronger than any of them. Can't hurt to have them experience something new."

Rayla frowned. "I'm not sure they want me interfering with their work. Otherwise I would have done that long ago."

"Start with asking the Captain for a spar then," Callum suggested. "Once you've beaten the best, the others will probably fall in line soon enough."

Rayla smiled and sat down on his lap. "Aren't you full of good ideas yourself today."

"I'm really glad you're here, Rayla," Callum said quietly. "I don't know how I would cope without you here to help me out."

"Mind saying that again?"

Callum didn't. He kissed her instead.

There was a bang as someone burst into the room. "Master Callum! I think I've done it! I-!!!"

Jay suddenly stopped as Callum and Rayla sprang apart at his sudden intrusion. "I-uh, sorry."

"Well? Done what?" Rayla prompted while Callum got to his feet.

An infectious grin spread across Jay's face. "I think I've learned the Sky Arcanum!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took way, way, WAY too long for me to get out. The long break was due mostly to Steve being revealed for Smash, and now that the excitement from that has worn off, (mostly) I can continue to devote myself a little more to this. Hopefully the next chapter doesn't also take a month and a half to get out.
> 
> Comment who you think the next person to learn an Arcanum will be!


	31. Confirmed

Callum was unsurprised that Jay had been the first of the hopefuls to learn an Arcanum. The rest of the hopefuls were however, so now they were all gathered on the back lawn of the manor so Callum could have Jay cast his first spell.

Callum had traced the Aspiro rune in the air and Jay was doing his best to copy it. On the second try, Jay drew the rune correctly and incanted an eager " _Aspiro!_ " to activate the spell. His next breath was a fairly powerful gust of wind, confirming without a doubt that Jay had made the connection.

"It's incredible, Master!" Jay exclaimed when the spell ended. "Just...the sky! It's like comparing a painting of a scene to seeing it in person!"

"Very good, apprentice Jay," Master Arbora complimented him. "Now, while we are all here, would you care to explain to us how you made the connection? What was your process?"

Jay suddenly became a bit embarrassed as he realized that he'd been celebrating in front of everyone. "Well,...I-uh...I didn't really have a process at first. I was doing my best to go out and feel the wind as much as I could in between my studies, to try and get a feel for it, you know? Then a couple days ago, I realized what you all had been saying about "mind, body, and spirit". I figured I'd been focusing too much on the magic to think too deeply about the Arcanum, if you know what I mean. Once I figured that out, I did my best to put together all the pieces in my head and connect it to my feelings about the sky and how it interacted with my body. Once I managed to put all three of them together at once, I guess it all just clicked into place, like it was the most natural thing in the world."

"That lines up pretty well with my experiences," Natalia remarked.

"Mine as well," Evin added.

"I don't really think about it all that much," Ellis admitted from where she lay on Ava's back. "I was mostly just feeling my way closer to the moon and connecting to the different parts of myself, but I suppose it was similar to what he just said. What about you, Callum?"

"He was a little busy almost dying, remember?" Rayla barged in. "He doesn't count."

"Rayla!" Callum protested. "I'm fine. I didn't die, even when I was actually almost dying. When are you going to let that go?"

"When you prove to me that you can learn magic without scaring me half to death."

Callum caught the sound of a giggle. "Great. Now Ellis is laughing at us."

The moon apprentice threw up her hands in mock dismay. "I wouldn't _dare!_ "

* * *

It took only a week more or so for half of the other hopefuls to learn their Arcana. Nakia was not one of them. Unlike the others, she didn't have anyone to tell her what the Ocean Arcanum was like. She had to figure it out on her own.

Nakia sat outside on a rock overlooking the sea, lost in her thoughts. She recalled what Prince Callum had told her when she'd first heard of the idea of taking a "field trip" as he'd called it.

 _It's a chance to get everyone out into the real world for a little hands-on work with their own Arcana,_ the prince had told her, _And it's a good chance for you to get in touch with the sea on your own. I understand that you want to do everything alone, but you don't have to. Rayla taught me that a long time ago. She still has that problem sometimes, too._

The Moonshadow Elf did indeed seem like the reckless sort. She could hardly imagine how those two had gotten together, if what Jay had told the rest of the hopefuls was true. They could hardly be less alike, after all. Elf and human, swords and magic, snark and dorkiness. Then again, maybe that was it. The fact that they complimented each other so well was probably a factor, that and all the danger they definitely saw when they were taking the Dragon Prince back to Xadia. If they'd somehow grown close to each other during that time, it was little wonder that they'd become fond of each other so quickly.

Speaking of fondness, Nakia remembered Natalia, the girl learning sun magic with the Sunfire Elves. She was so stubborn about getting her to open up to her and make friends. Nakia grimaced as she remembered her "friends" back in Evenere. Bunch of kiss-up young men and ladies trying to find favor with her so they could make connections and maybe earn a higher position at the court. Natalia wasn't like that. She was so honest, just like her Arcanum. Light and heat and truth.

That Bashan boy had surprisingly made his connection to the Sun Arcanum not long after Jay had connected to the sky. He was still a little hostile towards the elves, but he had been getting better with his behavior towards him. He'd also been incredibly interested when he'd learned that sun magic could be used to purify dark magic. He'd redoubled his efforts since then in studying the magic, though he still went down to the courtyard to spar with Rayla whenever he had time.

It had only been a few days since Pavani had connected to the Moon Arcanum. It suited her quite well, just as she had said. She rather disapproved of Ellis' brash energy, but it was impossible to dislike such a warmhearted girl, even if you were a stuck-up noble girl like Pavani. Nakia still didn't know what Pavani's motives were for learning magic. She wasn't an open book like Bashan or Natalia. Figured. The Moon Arcanum was all about illusions.

None of the other apprentices or the remaining hopefuls were of much interest to her, though she still remembered one time where one had admitted to only joining Callum's class because he was nervous around elves. He'd been moved to the Earth Arcanum soon after and with the help of that tracker...Evin? soon started to get over his fear and made more progress with the earth than he ever did with the sky.

Nakia shook herself out of her thoughts. Thinking about other people's successes and failures too much wouldn't get her anywhere. Nakia knew she was a thinker, a plotter. She had a bad habit of analyzing things too much and expecting to have to use any and every piece of information she could get. Well, it would come in handy when she returned to Evenere. She got it from her mother's family after all. But it wasn't of much use here. What she needed was balance.

 _Head, hand, and heart,_ as Prince Callum so often told his students. _Mind, body, and spirit._

Nakia had mind covered. She was always thinking about everything around her. She just needed to focus that on the water. Body...knowing the feel of the water was simple enough. She was from Evenere after all. The only way to and from the island kingdom was by boat, and much of the island was blanketed in swampland. Most citizens were taught how to swim as young children. She knew the feel of the water. Spirit on the other hand...where did one even begin?

Nakia had never really understood the idea of a soul. She supposed that was a side effect of constantly being exposed to people who wanted to exploit the law and other people for their own benefit. The dark mages who occasionally came to the castle were the worst offenders. Virtually the only thing they cared about was their magic, and there wasn't even really any point to it. They never used it for the kingdom; they had barely reacted when Queen Fareeda died and didn't lift a finger when the armies were gathered to go to Katolis to prepare for an assault on Xadia.

Perhaps that was the reason why dark magic was so hated by the elves. The dark mages had the intelligence to know how to make the magic and the ability to use it, but didn't have enough of a moral compass to tell them what was the right and what was the wrong thing to do with it. And according to the elves, that included stealing magic from creatures that had it and using it for a purpose other than what it was intended for. Perhaps that was the key. To know the ocean with her spirit had to mean that she wasn't the one using the ocean's magic, but rather that the ocean was using magic through her. She had to surrender herself to its power.

Nakia stepped down from the rock. She was barefoot and clad only in a thin linen dress. The sand collapsed under her every step, leaving a trail of footprints down to the waves. Nakia took a deep breath of that salty ocean air and stepped into the sea. Before long, she had submerged herself up to the waist. Closing her eyes, Nakia remembered an ancient song that her mother had sung to her a long time ago. The ocean tides swirling around her, Nakia surrendered her soul to the waves and started to sing.

_Water falls from the sky_

_It strikes the mountains and runs down_

_It spills into the cracks of the earth_

_And it fills the verdant crown_

_It drains out to the sea_

_All those relentless, pounding waves_

_Strikes the earth in an endless cycle_

_Even solid rock it claves_

_The ocean’s deeps hold secrets; those depths will not be known_

_Only the surface of them our sailors have been shown_

_I long to sail that current and let it take me where it goes_

_I will return, but for now I yearn, the water it flows_

_Out to sea_

_Ocean waves rise and fall_

_The spray of the sea, it strikes our face_

_Storms and tempests blow all around us_

_As we search to find a place_

_One night or five a storm might blow_

_Samudr me_

_The crashing waves, they bring us woe_

_Samudr me_

_We sail onward, forever bound_

_Samudr me_

_To find a land where life abounds!_

_The sea can wait forever for man to come and find_

_But homeward I must go soon, with body, heart, and mind_

_I long to sail that current and let it take me where it goes_

_I will return, but for now I yearn, the water it flows_

_Out to sea_

As the last wavering notes of the song echoed out towards the horizon, Nakia felt something stir within her soul. The ocean had been calling to her this whole time. She'd just been too deaf to hear it. A spark ignited where once there was little other than darkness. The Ocean Arcanum.

It was just as Jay had said. It was as if she had opened her eyes to a whole new world. As the ocean swirled around her, every drop of it felt alive, even more alive than she had been before she'd made the connection. Savoring this new connection, Nakia let herself go as she lay back and floated at the surface of the water, stretching out her senses over the water until she felt everything in the bay, from that wave that just crashed against the rocks, to that piece of driftwood Rayla had thrown into the sea earlier that evening, to those two people still floating in with the current...!!

Nakia sat up, suddenly alert, and swam for the two people she'd sensed. They were hidden behind a rock a little ways out. Evidently, they were exhausted, for they were slumped over a log and barely moving. Nakia thanked the gods that she was still a strong swimmer. But as she got closer, she realized something.

One of them was blue and had fins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: "I want to write a song for this chapter!"  
> Also me: Spends several days wondering what else to put in it.
> 
> Chances are most of the development with the hopefuls and other minor characters will be covered in the spin-off. Right now I'm mostly concerned with bringing the story to a point where I can get to a more exciting bit.
> 
> By the way, if anyone wants to write music for Nakia's song, feel free.
> 
> By the way, for some reason, every time I upload a chapter, several other works upload immediately after and bury mine, and I have no idea why.


	32. Castaways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last time, Nakia pulled a Tidebound Elf and a human out of the ocean. Now, one of them bears with him a story of the utmost peril.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only two comments on the last chapter? I guess people hate it when I try to write songs.

"Are they okay?" Nakia asked.

Natalia looked up from shining her healing light on the exhausted human woman. "They certainly wouldn't have been if they had stayed where you found them for much longer," the sun apprentice answered. "The Tidebound Elf is in better shape, probably due to his Arcanum, but he's still exhausted."

"Where did they even come from?" Callum wondered. "And how did they get this far up the Weeping Bay?"

"Questions for when they awake," Master Aurora answered. "For now, we need to let them sleep. Miss Nakia, keep Miss Natalia company for now. I'll send someone along to relieve you after a little while. If either of them wake up before then, one of you come find us. Understood?"

"Yes, Master," Natalia replied.

"Perfectly clear, ma'am," Nakia answered.

Callum and Master Aurora left the room. Rayla was waiting outside. "Well?" she asked.

"They're sleeping for now," Master Aurora told her. "They seem to be alright."

"Good," Rayla breathed a sigh of relief. "But holy _stars._ A Tidebound Elf? Here?"

"Yeah, we're really far up the Weeping Bay," Callum agreed. "This place isn't very easy to get to by sea."

"It's not just that," Rayla told him. "Most Tidebound Elves live in the Tidebound Archipelago, which is off the far eastern coast of Xadia. It's about as far from the human kingdoms as you can get. Not only that, they're _incredibly_ reclusive, even more so than Moonshadow Elves. The fact that one is here, let alone with a human woman...it's unthinkable."

"What's even more unthinkable is how he must have gotten here," Master Aurora stated. "The sea to the south of the border, the Gulf of Tenebris, is also called the Spinning Sea. The ocean dragons keep that area constantly churned into a massive whirlpool so as to deny passage to any human ships that would approach Xadia from the south. To get here, he would have had to have either crossed the border without anyone else knowing or passed through the Gulf of Tenebris. The chances of either happening are phenomenal."

"Well, we'll get his story when he wakes up," Callum concluded.

* * *

It was about a half an hour later when Natalia came to find Callum and Master Aurora to tell them that the Tidebound Elf had woken up. Since Rayla and Master Nerys were also there, they came as well. The Tidebound Elf was clearly still exhausted, but he was at least sitting up in bed and well enough to be arguing with Nakia right before the group walked in. Nakia was looking a little irked with him, while the elf had an expression like he'd been told off but was still being stubborn.

"Did something happen while I was gone?" Natalia asked Nakia.

"I had to tell this guy that we're not dark mages," Nakia said, rolling her eyes.

Rayla scoffed. "Are you serious? He couldn't be farther from the truth."

The Tidebound Elf locked eyes with Rayla. "You're a long way from home, Moonshadow Elf."

"And you're even farther, if you don't mind me saying," Rayla retorted.

"Alright, alright," Callum intervened, putting his hands up. "Why don't we all just calm down here and figure out what's going on. First of all, Mr. Tidebound Elf, may I have your name please?"

The Tidebound Elf paused before answering, "Njord."

"Well then, Njord, I just want you to know that you're among friends right now. There are no dark mages among us, and every human who knows that you're here is either a hopeful or already connected to one of the Primal Sources. We're allies of Xadia, so you can feel at ease."

"Impossible," Njord insisted stubbornly. "Humans can't-"

"I already explained this, fish-head!" Nakia interrupted. "I wouldn't have found you if I hadn't connected to the Ocean Arcanum when I did. And if we weren't allies of Xadia, you wouldn't be sitting in a nice bed alongside the human girl who was with you clinging to that log, you'd be either dead or chained to a wall somewhere being interrogated how you got so far into human territory."

"Wait, you made the connection?" Callum changed the subject.

Nakia's brow creased as she realized. "Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you that. I made the connection right before I found these two."

"Yeah, that would be a distraction," Callum admitted.

"Getting back to the matter at hand," Master Aurora interrupted. "Njord, how did you come here? And why?"

Again, Njord was silent for a minute. "Fine," he finally relented. "I suppose I can trust a fellow elf, if not humans. I am a Tidebound soldier who was stationed at the outpost at the edge of the Gulf of Tenebris, in the event that human dark mages were to somehow make it across. We Tidebound Elves have lived there since the Judgement of the Half Moon. Some weeks ago, our outpost was attacked, not from the sea, but from the land. The enemy had the figures of elves, but they were shrouded in dark magic and they behaved like beasts, lashing out at anything that moved and polluting the water with dark magic."

"Shades," Callum said under his breath.

"You know them?" Njord asked.

"We've fought them before," Master Aurora clarified. Njord's gaze fell to her crippled hand. "Please continue."

Njord looked like he wanted to press for more answers, but he obeyed. "I and a few others were fortunate enough to escape into the sea. Unfortunately, I was pursued. I managed to shake off my pursuers, but in the process, I strayed too close to the Spinning Sea. For the next several hours, the only thing keeping me alive was a water breathing spell I learned in my youth, unfit though I was to become a proper mage. Eventually, the currents washed me up on the shore on the other side of the border, where I was discovered by the human woman there." He nodded to the woman in the bed next to his.

"She was able to hide me in her house for I believe a week or so before I was discovered by the other humans in her village, though as to how, I cannot say. All I know is that the mob chased us into the sea once more. We had a boat at first, but we had the poor luck to be caught in a sudden storm which wrecked it on a rocky outcropping not too far away. After that, we drifted, clinging to whatever floating object we could find. I normally would have been able to swim her to safety myself, but due to my injuries and exhaustion, I was unable to. The last thing I remember was hearing a strange song coming from somewhere down the shoreline and trying to swim for it. I must have passed out from exhaustion not long after."

Callum and Rayla looked at each other with concerned looks. "How many shades did you say there were?" Rayla ventured.

"A group of about thirty. We could have taken them, but they took us by surprise."

" _Thirty??_ " Rayla exclaimed. "Sources, where are they all coming from!?"

"We can't be sure," Master Nerys answered. "Perhaps the wyrm made a village disappear when no one was looking, though I think it more likely that the dark mages learned to put the wyrm's venom on the shades' weapons, since that seems to be what turns the elves into shades."

"That lines up with what I saw," Njord answered. "One of my friends was scratched by one of their blades. The area around the wound started turning black not long after and stank of dark magic."

" _Stars_ , this is bad," Callum swore. "We still don't have a good way of countering those things, and only half the mages we're training have managed to connect to an Arcanum!"

Aurora stated, "I'll have a message sent to Lux Aurea immediately. Hopefully Queen Janai will be able to come up with something we can do to fight back against these shades." She swept out of the room.

"Okay," Nakia spoke up, "So what do we do now?"

"We wait for her to wake up," Callum replied, gesturing to the human woman asleep on the other bed. "We should hear her side of the story to confirm what Njord's been saying. After that...I think we're going to have to accelerate the mage training."

* * *

Aaravos was quite pleased with the report. "Now that that outpost has been taken, we now have a more reliable way to get into the other human kingdoms. With luck, we will be able to catch them by surprise."

"The shades did report that a few of the Tidebound Elves escaped," Viren cautioned. "Is there any chance that they could have managed to make it somewhere they could call for help?"

"The ones that got away were chased into the Spinning Sea," the wyrm answered. "Ocean Arcanum or not, there's virtually no chance that any of them could survive in that maelstrom. Besides, they would have ended up in the human lands, and allies or no, most humans still hate elves with a passion, don't they?"

"This is _that_ group we're talking about," Claudia told him. "We shouldn't let our guards down."

"Hmm," the wyrm hummed in its throat. "Agreed. After all, the last time we did that, you had to bring your father back to life. Perhaps we should start to contact the Cult. They should start getting ready. We can't allow our friend Callum and his elven friends to start brainwashing the other humans, can we?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyway, now we're finally starting to get into the more exciting parts! Something is afoot, and conflict is on the horizon. Anything could happen next, so stay tuned for more.


	33. Anticipation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The human woman wakes up. What will her story be...?

Beatrice hadn't expected to be sitting in a luxurious bed when she woke up. The last thing she remembered was losing consciousness from exhaustion as she and the Tidebound Elf, Njord she remembered, clung to a floating log as the storm tossed them around like dolls. Now, she was suddenly in a clean bed with white linen sheets, and the Tidebound Elf was lying in bed next to her, being checked over by a pair of strange girls.

"Njord...?" she managed to get out. Clearly she was still exhausted.

All three of them turned to look at her. "She's awake!" exclaimed one of the girls, a fair-skinned lady with red hair and hawklike eyes. An Evenerian, maybe? The two girls rushed to her side, Njord sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed to get a better view of what was going on.

"Where...am I?" Beatrice managed to get out.

"A village at the top of the Weeping Bay," answered the other girl. She had tanned skin and cinnamon-colored hair. "I'm Natalia. Nakia here was the one who pulled you two out of the bay."

"Thank you, miss," Beatrice told the red-haired girl.

"Save your thanks," Nakia replied. "Focus on getting better."

Natalia raised one hand and drew a golden rune in the air. " _Calore Sanitatem,_ " she chanted. The rune faded into a soft glow that enveloped Beatrice's body, and she could feel it healing her injuries while it persisted.

"Magic?" she whispered, dumbfounded.

Natalia smiled. "That's right."

"I still can't believe that humans are suddenly able to do magic now," Njord remarked.

"Trust me, I can still hardly believe it myself," Natalia replied. She turned to Nakia. "Since I've got this patient on my hands, it's your turn to go fetch Prince Callum and the Masters."

Nakia shot her a glare, but relented. "Fine. But you'd better tell me later if something interesting happens." The girl left the room.

Natalia handed Beatrice a glass of water sitting on the bedside table. She sipped it gratefully. "My name's Beatrice," she introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you, Beatrice," Natalia replied.

The three of them were waiting for maybe a minute more before Nakia returned with three people in tow. Two of them were elves, one with silver hair and ivory skin, the other with dark brown skin and black hair. The third was a human, a boy around sixteen or so, just a little younger than the Moonshadow Elf.

"Did anything happen while I was gone?" Nakia inquired.

"She's not in any condition to be kicking up a fuss even if she wanted to," Natalia replied.

"Alright, you two," the Sunfire Elf told them. She had a rich, accented voice and was fairly intimidating.

The boy pulled up a chair. "Hey. My name's Callum. The elves are Master Aurora and Rayla. They're friends, and good people, I promise."

Beatrice looked at the two of them. Master Aurora's gaze was cool and calculating, but Rayla was giving her a soft smile. Beatrice supposed that if anyone in this room meant her harm, it would have been done to her already. "I trust you," she said slowly.

"Very well then. In that case, could you tell us what happened to you?"

Beatrice swallowed the last of the water. "I come from a small village at the southern end of the Weeping Bay. A little over a week ago, I found Njord there washed up onshore." She nodded to the Tidebound Elf. "I was terrified at first, but when I looked closer, I saw that he was hurt and exhausted. Our village had heard that Katolis had banned dark magic and begun an alliance with some of the elven nations, but pretty much no one believed it until merchants who had visited the capital during the King's birthday confirmed that elves were there."

"Indeed," Master Aurora confirmed. "I was one of them."

Beatrice nodded. "Makes sense. When I noticed his condition, I knew I couldn't just leave him there on the beach. Anyone else would run out to the town and bring back an angry mob. So I brought him back to my home, did my best to nurse him back to health. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I wasn't very subtle with the things that I was buying in town for him. A week later, someone put the pieces together that I was hiding someone in my home. He fancied himself a dark mage as I recall. One day, I caught him spying through the windows of my home, and I chased him away, but not before he'd caught a glimpse of Njord. We knew he'd bring a mob back with him, so we ran down to the beach. We took my boat out into the bay right before the crowd caught up to us. A little while later, we tried to turn the boat so we could head back to shore, but we were caught in a current and swept up in a storm. The boat was wrecked on a reef, so we made do clinging to whatever floating debris we could find. After that, I'm afraid there's not much more to tell you."

"Her story matches up pretty well with what Njord told us," Rayla remarked.

"You never told me that the person who found us was a dark mage," Njord said almost accusingly.

"I didn't exactly have the time!" Beatrice protested.

"This dark mage," Callum queried, "was he still practicing after news of the ban on dark magic reached your village?"

"Well, he always said he'd stopped," Beatrice grumbled at the memory of him. "Pretty much the entire town knew he was still practicing in secret though. It's not like the law could do anything to him though; no one had any real proof. He seemed to be engaging in some shady activities with some shady people as well, though no one was brave enough to listen in on them."

"And what about the Order of the Broken Chains?" Callum asked.

"Hasn't reached us yet," Beatrice replied. "Our village is probably the most remote one in all of Katolis. It's right down by the bottom of the Weeping Bay."

"Makes sense since it's only been a year since the Order's establishment," Callum remarked.

Something in Beatrice's mind suddenly clicked as she recognized the boy's name. "Wait...you're Prince Callum of Katolis!?" she exclaimed.

"Easy," Natalia told her, pushing down on her shoulders to keep her from getting up. "You're still exhausted. No moving around for you until I say so. Got it?"

"Yes, miss," Beatrice replied, suddenly feeling very meek.

* * *

Callum met with everyone at dinner to discuss what Njord and Beatrice had told them.

"So, the Tidebound outpost next to the Spinning Sea was attacked, Njord managed to escape, Beatrice found him and nursed him back to health, and then a suspicious man who may or may not still be practicing dark magic summoned a mob and drove them back into the sea," Callum summed everything up. "Any idea if everything that happened to them was coincidence or a pattern?"

"Hard to say," Master Nerys replied. "Their stories were consistent, which makes it highly likely that they are telling the truth at least."

"According to Njord, that outpost was intended to stop any human invasions that managed to cross the Gulf of Tenebris," Aurora recounted. "If it's been taken by the shades, does that mean that the enemy intends to attack the human kingdoms from the sea next?"

"In that case, Katolis and Evenere would be most likely to be affected," Nakia concluded.

"It's uncertain what the enemy intends to do with that outpost, but they should not be permitted to keep it," Master Abner stated. "We ought to send messages to our peoples warning them of this threat. The shades at the very least ought to be stamped out as soon as possible. Too many lives have been lost already."

"Is there any chance that the dark mages are involved somehow?" Rayla asked.

"That's unclear," Master Nerys answered.

Callum extrapolated, "After Forsyth and Rogan, we know that Viren has a way he can use dark magic to contact people in the human kingdoms. It's possible that he's going to use that somehow, but for what, there's no way of knowing."

"What's going to happen with our training?" Jay asked.

Callum and the Masters all looked at each other. Master Aurora spoke, "I think we're going to have to accelerate your training for now. In the case that we begin to face conflict, we will need those of you who have no combat experience to be able to adequately defend yourselves."

"I'll do my bit," Rayla interjected. "I'm good for doing night watch, and I'm still open in case anyone wants to do any weapons training."

"I'll join in," Jay replied.

"Finally someone else," Bashan said. "It's not as fun when it's just me."

"Alright," Callum concluded. "If there's nothing else, we're heading back to Sierrashire. We've already spent two days here, and it's about time we did so."

* * *

It was nightfall when the carriages arrived at the Sierrashire manor.

A couple of shadowy figures watched as Prince Callum swooped out of the sky and landed next to them, beginning to escort the students inside. One of them flashed a smile.

"They're back."

"I can see that. Gather the rest. We begin tomorrow night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are about to go down.
> 
> If you enjoyed, please leave a comment. If there was anything you think could be improved, also leave a comment. Can't get enough comments.


	34. Assault on the Academy Part 1

Night.

The grounds around the Lord's manor in Sierrashire were silent. The east wind was in the air tonight, bringing with it a little cloud cover, though the gibbous moon still shone despite it. Several figures cloaked in darkness were creeping through the treeline towards the side of the manor. The trees rustled overhead, but they ignored them, thinking it was only the wind or some nocturnal animal. They did not notice the lithe, hooded shadow tracking them from above.

The figures gathered in a circle when they were only a few meters from the east wing of the manor. One of them reached into his robe and pulled out a small object that he crushed with one hand. His eyes glowed purple as he chanted, " **Yaw eht nepo.** " His shadow pooled on the ground in the middle of the circle, and out of it, a dark creature started to emerge.

Suddenly, the man cried aloud as a shadow leaping down from the trees struck him with both feet and squashed him to the ground, interrupting the spell. The singular shade managed to get free of the portal before it closed, but the figure's swords struck it down before it could do so much as brandish its pike.

"You picked the wrong night to be practicing dark magic in Sierrashire, boys," Rayla told the circle of dark mages. Letting down her hood, her dark gray-purple horns and silver hair shone in the moonlight, and her blades glinted menacingly as she readied herself for a fight. But the group of dark mages had lost their nerve now that they were suddenly being confronted by a well-trained and deadly Moonshadow Elf. Totally unprepared, the whole lot of them tried to run, so it was not so much of a fight as just running down each fleeing figure and whacking them on the heads so they would be easy to capture.

Rayla straightened back up after having just knocked out the last one, but even as she looked around the area to make sure there were no more of them, a series of purple glows suddenly appeared around the treeline one after another. There was no time to think, she had to raise the alarm. She immediately sprinted towards the manor.

" _We're under attack!!_ "

* * *

Callum woke up immediately at the sound of Rayla's cry. Ever since he'd learned the Sky Arcanum, he'd always left his window open a crack before he went to bed, and the sound of Rayla yelling the same three words over and over again immediately snapped him to full alert.

" _We're under attack!!_ "

Callum shot out of bed and threw on his tunic before barging into the hallway as a squad of guards rounded the corner. "What's going on?" he demanded.

"Lady Rayla started shouting right as several dark figures started moving out of the trees," the captain reported. "Judging by the purple lights, I suspect dark magic, sir!"

"Protect the students!" Callum ordered. "I'm going to help her!" Callum immediately traced a rune. " _Ieiunium Ventus!_ " Callum was off like a shot before the captain could respond.

Callum raced into the wing where the students were housed. Several of them had heard the commotion and were peeking out of their doors as Callum skidded to a halt, the guards still a ways down the hall, trying to keep up. Natalia took a step towards him, wondering, "Prince Callum? What's with all the noise?"

Before Callum could answer, a window on his right suddenly shattered as a figure shaped like a Moonshadow Elf shrouded in oily darkness burst into the manor. Several others did the same further down the hall, causing a pair of the students to cry out in fear.

" _Fulmimis Multa!_ " Callum cried aloud, immediately summoning a dozen orbs of electricity which he proceeded to pummel the attacking shades with. The Moonshadow shade closest to him was put down before it could so much as brandish its sword in Callum's direction.

Another cry of " _Fulminis!_ " and the resulting streak of lightning told him Jay was also doing his best. His lightning bolt missed the Earthblood shade he was aiming for, but the hallway was narrow enough that the shades behind it couldn't maneuver around it very well, and it struck a Moonshadow shade in the shoulder before it could try to dodge. Bashan engaged the Earthblood shade instead, muttering " _Ignis,_ " under his breath and setting the shade's hair on fire before proceeding to try and slash at it with his sword, only to discover Earthblood shades' iron-like hides.

Callum had no intention of letting his students be harmed. Thinking quickly, he fired his last few lightning bolts and laid down another pair of runes.

" _Ventus Percutiens Retro!_ "

A wide wall of wind seemed to form in the air right in front of him, covering the entire width of the hall as it raced forward at astounding speed. It rippled over his students like it wasn't even there, but the shades it slammed into like a battering ram, smashing them down the hall. With the shades separated from his students, Callum quickly drew another rune. " _Aspiro Frigis!_ " as the shades got to their feet and ran back down the hall towards them, Callum unleashed his breath, catching the first few shades and encasing them in ice and trapping the remainder behind the newly formed iceberg.

"Can't get out that way anymore," Callum stated. "We need to get going, now."

"On it!" said one of the students. Callum remembered his name was Matthew. He'd originally wanted to be part of Callum's class because he was afraid of elves, but after transferring to the Earth Arcanum classes, he'd done far better. Matthew went over to the wall, took a deep breath and traced a pair of green runes in the air. " _Partum Cuniculum._ " The stone wall crumbled into a hole just large enough for the students to climb through to the outside. A series of hushed cheers ran through the students.

"Great job there," Callum told him. "Everyone head through that tunnel. I'll bring up the rear."

"Prince Callum," the guard captain objected, "my squad and I should be the first ones through the tunnel to make sure it's safe on the other side."

"Okay, do it," Callum told him. "Get everyone to safety. I have to go find Rayla."

* * *

The guards at the front entrance had reacted with shock at Rayla charging towards them from across the lawn with her swords still drawn. They started to level their pikes in her direction, but suddenly they paled as Rayla heard running footsteps behind her. Instinctively, she spun around, slashing with her sword at whatever was chasing her and driving her blade into the arm of a Sunfire shade that had somehow managed to close the distance between them. The shade hissed and swung its uninjured arm at her, missing her head by a hair's breadth. She vaulted away, giving herself room to plan her next move, but more shades were coming around to the front of the manor and there was no way she and the pair of guards at the front door could fight them.

"Get inside quick!" she yelled at the guards before charging forwards and making several fast slashes at the Sunfire shade she'd wounded. One of her blades struck the shade's wrist on the same arm she'd wounded before, and the shade dropped its sword. Her next two blows fell on its head and shoulder and struck it down. More shades were now bearing down on her, and there was no time for her to make a dash for the front door, but that didn't mean she was trapped. Rayla flipped her blades into their hook forms, leapt at the manor wall, and scrambled up, barely managing to evade the lunging grasp of a shade that had tried to sieze her foot as she leapt.

Rayla needed less than a minute to reach the roof. Pausing for a moment to catch her breath, she returned her swords to blade form and looked down at the manor grounds, which were quickly turning into a battlefield. Several shades had crowded around the front entrance, but evidently the guards had barricaded the door and they could not get in. For the first time, Rayla wished that she had a bow. She was nowhere near as good a shot as Runaan, but she would have been more than capable of picking off a few of the shades that were now crowding around the windows and trying to break through into the inside of the mansion. She cast her gaze about desperately, searching for something she could use as a projectile, when a pair of winged figures shot into the air above the roof of the manor.

The two winged Skywing shades spotted Rayla immediately and swooped in for the kill, swinging long glaives at her head and shoulders. Rayla ducked under their weapons as she counterattacked with her own blades, managing to cut into the wing of one of the shades and scatter feathers across the roof. The injured shade immediately lost its balance in the air, tumbled out of the sky, and crashed sprawling on the slate roof. Rayla had no chance to chase it down and finish it off, for the shade she missed banked and slashed its arm through the air, generating blades of wind and darkness that shot at Rayla and forced her jump out of their way as they smote the roof where she'd been standing moments before, barely managing to hold onto her blades as she did so.

The shade swooped in again, and Rayla slashed at it as it approached, forcing it to flare out its wings and halt midair, giving her an opportunity to throw one of her blades into its wings and knock it out of the sky for good. As it tried to recover, she heard the other one charge at her from where it had previously crashed. Spinning quickly, she blocked its glaive with her remaining sword and slammed a kick into its hand to get rid of the weapon. There was a high chance that even the slightest scratch from one of the weapons was capable of turning an elf into a shade.

But even without its weapon, the shade still refused to halt its wild berserker charge, an action that proved its downfall. Rayla ducked under its wild punch, flipped her sword into a hook, and slipped it around the shade's leg, yanking it out from under its owner and causing the shade to fall flat on its face. One quick flip of the hook back into blade form and a stab through the nape of the neck later, and Rayla had one less shade to deal with.

But the remaining shade had already recovered from its crash and thrown Rayla's blade right back at her. Naturally, Rayla recovered quickly enough to knock it aside, but the shade was on her almost before she could bring up her blade to block its glaive, and the force of the strike knocked her sprawling. Rayla rolled aside to avoid another heavy strike that would have split her skull had it landed and sprang to her feet. Her hands were now empty, her other blade having been sent skittering across the roof when the shade had struck her. The shade was still incapable of flying, but it still had its glaive, and it would have no qualms about killing her. But as Rayla had already seen several times, shades were not clever fighters. They only had one mode: attack.

Just as she thought, the shade ran straight at her, swinging its glaive at her chest. Rayla waited until she could almost reach out and touch it before suddenly vaulting over its head and siezing the nearest weapon that she could find: the other shade's glaive. As the remaining shade spun to face her, she charged forward and laid open its shoulder with the glaive with a ferocious battle cry. But to her shock, the supposedly disabled shade only swatted her away and wrenched the weapon out of its arm. The wound was already closing.

Rayla grit her teeth and backed up to the edge of the roof. As she'd expected, the shade once again came charging straight at her. With a single fluid motion, she stepped to one side and swept a low kick against the shade's ankles. It tumbled over the edge with a satisfying scream.

Rayla stepped up to the edge to look down, but another winged figure suddenly appeared out of the corner of her vision, and she instinctively adopted a fighting stance. Then she relaxed as she realized that the figure had two wings instead of arms rather than a pair of wings attached just above the hips. "Rayla!" cried a relieved Callum as he landed on the roof, his mage wings already fading back into his arms.

Rayla let out a sigh of relief. "What took you so long?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is taking longer than I expected, so I decided to split it into two parts.
> 
> Please leave comments! Can't get enough comments.


	35. Assault on the Academy Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The academy is still under attack, but now battle couple Rayla and Callum are together. This is going to go badly...for the attacking shades.

Callum flew up to the top of the roof and immediately spotted Rayla. She was at the very least unharmed, if a little winded. Her swords had been scattered across the roof and the corpse of a winged Skywing shade lay prone only a little distance away. Callum swooped in and landed on the roof, releasing the mage wings spell as he started running towards her. "Rayla!" he cried out, relieved that she was still fine.

"What took you so long?" she demanded in a snarky, slightly annoyed tone.

Callum slowed down. He wanted so badly to hold her and kiss her right now, but they were still in the middle of a battle. "You alright?" he asked.

"Good enough to keep fighting, though I wouldn't be if I'd been scratched by one of their weapons," Rayla admitted. "Only a few bruises from getting knocked around a bit, but I gave them one better."

"Clearly," Callum commented, nudging the dead Skywing shade with his boot. "Do you know who did this?"

"Buncha dark mages in the trees around the grounds. I took out one group of them, but the rest of them managed to summon all the shades."

"The shades seem to be weak to magic, so why don't you go after the dark mages. We can't let them attack anyone else."

"I'm not leaving you, Callum," Rayla insisted.

The ground suddenly rumbled beneath the manor. Several shades were tossed out of the broken windows that they'd climbed in through as pillars of earth suddenly sprouted from the inside of the manor. The ground began to roll as the Earthblood Masters' spells took effect and forced the shades out of the manor. The masters continued their assault as the students started to add their own attacks to the assault, Jay throwing lightning bolts, Evin attacking with winding roots, Natalia and Bashan being unable to exercise the full abilities of the Sun Arcanum so late at night, but still managing to send balls of light into the ranks of the shades to disrupt the dark magic that sustained them.

"I'm not leaving you either, Rayla," Callum answered. "The others can handle the shades attacking us for now. I'm going to be watching your back."

Rayla set her jaw. Callum could tell she was struggling between wanting him safe by her side and safe somewhere the shades couldn't get to him. "Alright," she finally decided. She retrieved her blades and walked to the edge of the roof. "Once we get down to the ground, you follow my lead. Mind clearing me a path?"

Callum answered with a grin and immediately laid down a pair of runes. " _Fulminis Insultura!_ " Callum's lightning bolt shot down towards the shades and arced between those that were still gathered together, striking down each shade where it stood. Rayla vaulted down from the roof and Callum followed close behind. Rayla hit the ground in a roll and flashed out her blades in a single fluid motion, striking at a nearby Sunfire shade as she passed it by, running towards the treeline. Callum slowed his fall with a _Ventus Modero_ spell and hit the ground with several lightning orbs from a _Fulminis Multa_ spell he'd simultaneously cast midair already orbiting around him. Avoiding the fallen bodies, Callum dashed after Rayla, casting a lightning orb at any shade that tried to get in their way.

* * *

Rayla's instincts were on point. When they saw her running straight towards them, the dark mages watching from the trees panicked and abandoned their hiding places. Several reached inside their robes for objects that they could use to cast a variety of curses at her, but Rayla was already upon them. The first dark mage to have their eyes turn purple felt the point of one of Rayla's blades and collapsed on the ground, dead. Rayla felt a twinge of discomfort at taking the man's life, but she shook it off. This wasn't like her first and only assassination mission; these people were actively trying to kill her and Callum. She didn't have time to regret taking their lives.

Rayla surged into battle, slashing her swords at the retreating dark mages. At least three had already fled in terror, but the rest obstinately refused to surrender. Rayla's swords flashed as another dark mage's eyes turned purple. She too rolled over, dead. That was enough for the two that were left, who threw their hands up in surrender. Rayla didn't hesitate to snatch the cord belts of the two dark mages she'd killed. The two that surrendered were hog-tied on the ground in a flash.

" _Impetus Tempestatis!_ " Callum cried out behind her. The wind began to pick up and swirl around her boyfriend, driving back any shades from trying to join the fight. Callum continued to chant spells under his breath as he struggled to maintain the whirlwind. Rayla didn't know a whole lot about wind magic, but Callum had told her once that the whirlwind spell was one of the strongest he could pull off without the aid of an entire storm. It also supposedly made it easier for the caster to use other kinds of sky magic while they were in the center of it; Rayla recalled Callum saying something about "gathering all the sky primal energy in a small area all in one place", but it hadn't made a lot of sense to her.

What did make sense to her was that whatever Callum was doing was working. Powerful winds buffeted the enemy shades while orbs of hail and lightning swirled through the air around them, slamming into any shade that tried to get too close to Callum or the trees. In the meantime, Rayla sprang away down the treeline, looking for more dark mages. Watching the battle from the trees, she saw the ground ripple and surge as the Earthblood masters chanted their powerful spells. Some shades were buried in stone, others impaled on earthen spires or ensnared by tree roots before being hit by spells from the apprentices and finished off.

Rayla dropped down from the trees into another group of dark mages that was just about ready to give up and run for it. Amidst their cries of alarm, Rayla attacked them all at once, swinging her blades and lashing out with powerful kicks, one of which slammed one of the dark mages in the chest and made him do an almost graceful backwards dive over the bushes and out of the trees. He was almost immediately buried up to his neck in quicksand by a stray earth spell.

Twenty seconds after it had started, the remaining dark mages had been dealt with. As Rayla stood there panting, she realized that the night was silent once again. After cleaning her blades on the grass and sheathing them on her back once again, she peeked out from the trees. All of the shades had been buried by earth or struck by lightning, and the students were all huddled together in small groups behind the masters. Callum caught sight of her and ran towards her, his whirlwind spent. Rayla couldn't help rushing towards him as well, and they met each other's embrace.

The two of them sank to the ground in absolute relief. Their lips were already glued together, the kiss becoming ever deeper and more passionate the longer they were able to express their relief. Finally, the two of them broke apart, gasping for air.

"Rayla?" Callum ventured.

"Yeah?"

"Are you hurt at all?"

"Just a few bruises. Hardly anything worth worrying about. You?"

"The shades couldn't even touch me."

"...Good."

Natalia cleared her throat behind them. "Are you two done yet?"

"I don't know," Rayla replied. She addressed Callum, " _Are_ we done yet?"

"Depends," he answered slowly. "What happens next?"

Natalia started, "Well, we have to get the students back inside, bandage up anyone who was hurt, bring in anyone that you may have captured...?" Here she looked at Rayla.

"There's a few in the trees," Rayla confirmed. "Some knocked out, others tied up. Shouldn't be too hard to bring them in."

Natalia nodded and finished, "And contact someone about what happened here."

"No sleep tonight I see," Callum muttered, struggling to his feet. He promptly keeled over into Rayla's arms and started snoring.

"Uh...is he alright?" Natalia asked.

"Probably just exhausted from all the magic he just used. I'd better get him to bed before we get started." Rayla threw her prince over her shoulder and started trudging back to the manor. It was going to be a long night.


	36. Repurcussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the Battle of the Academy. Ibis arrives in person and everyone has to make a choice.

Ibis and Rayla were there when Callum's eyes finally fluttered open. His mind flashed back to the previous night and he started to try to sit up, groaning as he struggled against the remnants of his exhaustion.

"Easy, Callum," Ibis said softly, laying a hand on his chest and pushing him back onto the bed. "You exhausted most of your energy last night with all that magic you did. I'm only sorry that I did not arrive soon enough to assist."

"Never mind that," Callum forced out. "Is everyone...?"

"Everyone's fine," Rayla reassured him, sitting down on the bed next to him. "We didn't even lose a single guard, let alone any of the students."

"From what I hear, we have your warnings to thank for that, Rayla," Ibis told her. "You did quite well, apprehending as many of the culprits as you did. I suppose I should expect no less from a former Dragonguard."

"What happened to them?" Callum asked.

"They were locked in the cellar," Rayla reported. "Lujanne is planning to take her students down there later today to interrogate them. Can't say I really feel sorry for them."

Callum didn't either.

"I was flying in last night when I sensed the tail ends of your magic, Callum," Ibis continued, "And I have heard of some of your exploits from Rayla and your students. I am impressed by the amount of progress you have managed to make in such a short time."

Callum gave a weak, rueful half-chuckle. "I just wish I could maintain that level of magic for longer."

"Eventually, you will be able to," Ibis reassured him. "The more a mage uses magic, the easier it becomes for them to draw in primal energy to fuel their spells. Once you've lived as long as I have and have used magic most of your life, you will be able to use _Impetus Tempestatis_ even in dead air."

"Got it," Callum replied. "I'll use magic more. Not just sky magic either, I know some sun and moon magic too. I should come up with some spells that I can use all the time whenever I can take a break from teaching and managing the territory."

"Get some rest first," Ibis ordered. "Training with magic is just like training your body. If you overexert yourself, you only perform worse later on."

* * *

It was almost dark again by the time Callum was able to get up again and have a meeting with the rest of the teachers and the senior students. Natalia greeted him at the door, but she had a hollow look in her eyes.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

Natalia looked down. "...I tried to heal the dark mages of their injuries this afternoon. They only screamed in pain."

"What?"

Master Aurora explained, "Sun magic doesn't just heal, it also purifies dark magic. When Natalia tried to heal them, her magic attacked the dark magic infesting their bodies, and it caused them more pain. In this situation, an ocean mage would be best at healing them. Sun magic can purify dark magic, but water magic dilutes it instead, so it would cause the dark mages less pain."

"Not that they deserve it, the filthy cowards," Master Cadoc spat. The Earthblood mage was furious at the attack and judging from his demeanor was barely holding himself back from making some pretty disparaging comments on humanity in general.

"I normally don't agree with the idea of causing people misery but in this case, I have to agree with you, Master Cadoc," Evin growled to Callum's surprise due to his generally more cautious and slightly nervous attitude. The prince had never seen him this furious. "Attacking us with the enemy's minions in the middle of the night alone is beyond cowardly!"

"Enough of that, you two," Master Nerys rebuked them. "Let's get this meeting started."

A minute or so later, they were all seated around the table and Lujanne was giving her report. "One of the dark mages was fairly cooperative when we went to interrogate them. According to her testimony, most of the dark mages in the human kingdoms have various sects that occupy different areas in the human kingdoms and they make agreements with other sects to stay out of each other's way. They are based in virtually every large city in the Pentarchy, though the ones in Katolis and Duren have had to go underground recently in order to avoid the new ban on dark magic. According to the prisoner, the group who attacked us last night did so on the orders of one who the leader of her sect called 'the king of Katolis.'"

Callum sprang to his feet. "Ezran wouldn't!"

"We know that," Rayla told him, laying a hand on his arm. "But who else claimed the throne last year?"

Realization dawned on him and he sank back into his seat and laid one hand on his forehead. "Viren."

"Exactly," Lujanne replied. "According to our prisoner, the enemy used to go around to all the different sects in Katolis and meet with them to establish his own authority over them as the king's high mage. He even met with some of the sects in the other kingdoms when he was brought on diplomatic missions over the years."

"So Viren's poised to gather an army of dark mages from across the continent basically anytime he wants?" Callum asked.

"Not quite," Lujanne replied. "Some sects are more receptive to his ideas than others. The last thing we got out of our cooperative friend was that the two sects that attacked us last night were told to get us out of the way to 'pave the way for his revolution' as she put it."

"So the students aren't safe here," Master Nerys concluded.

"None of us are," Lujanne admitted. "As long as we are here, we are in a position where we can be attacked by these sects of dark mages."

Callum slammed his fist against the tabletop in frustration. "I should have known we wouldn't be able to do this without Viren interfering! I should have known!"

"So what do we do now?" Natalia asked.

"If the enemy is planning a revolution of any kind, then this is becoming a serious matter," Master Abner said flatly. "If he has enough support from the shades and the dark cults, it could even mean the return of war."

"We have to warn our nations about this," Master Cadoc insisted. "This is as much a threat to the elves as it is to the humans. The enemy cannot be allowed to continue doing as he pleases."

"And what of the students?" Callum asked.

"We can't get them further involved in this," Master Aurora said gently. "We'll have to send them home until this blows over."

"We can't quit now!" Natalia protested.

"Most of the students have already made connections!" Evin almost shouted. "We can't give up now!"

"Evin, Natalia," Master Nerys interrupted. "Don't let your emotions cloud your judgement. A group of half-trained apprentices, some of whom haven't even connected to an Arcanum yet have no business getting involved in something like this. You are some of the first human mages in history, and you have to be able to bring that back to your kingdoms." The two apprentices were silent, so the old Earthblood master continued, "Your fight will come later. At the very least, we will hand out simple spell guides to each of the students. You will be able to practice magic while you weather the storm."

"Good idea," Callum said. "I'll even make them myself."

"I don't doubt your artistry, Callum, but are you sure you have the time?" Rayla asked.

"No big deal. I'll just make some. Besides, it'll take a while to arrange sending all the students home. I'll have plenty of time to put together some study guides for all the students."

"And what of our Tidebound friend and the human who came with him?" Lujanne asked.

"I think we're going to have to bring him back to Katolis castle with us," Callum suggested. "He's less likely to be treated badly while he's my brother's guest."

"Very well," Master Aurora concurred. "Let us adjourn for now and inform the students of what we have decided."

* * *

Bashan slammed his fist against the wall. "It's just so frustrating!" he shouted. "I'm this close to being able to cure my father, and now training has to be cancelled because of these stupid ******* dark mages!" Bashan continued to curse out loud.

Natalia tried to placate him. "It's alright, Bashan, they just don't want us to get ourselves killed. They're going to be giving us some spells anyway so we can continue to practice on our own."

"No."

Everyone turned in surprise at hearing Nakia's authoritative tone. The redheaded Evenerian had a steely look in her eyes. "We're already involved in this. The attack last night was directed at _us_. If the enemy wants anything, it's to make sure humans don't get to learn Primal Magic. So we're not going to just run and hide. The enemy will just hunt us down one by one. We have to stick together."

"But where do we go then?" Pavani asked. "There's not a lot of places where a group of human mages can practice magic in secret."

Natalia's eyes widened and a grin spread across her face. "I have the perfect place."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took longer than I was expecting to get out. I hope everyone didn't miss me too much while I was getting my life back in order. Big things are going on, and the end isn't anywhere in sight. Don't think that the students are going away forever though...


End file.
